The Two New Cullens
by JForbes
Summary: Rosalie and Emmett come across a gruesome scene while hunting and suddenly introduced to a three year old Bella and her twin brother Joshua. AU of course. Please Review.
1. Chapter 1

I smiled as I watched my gorgeous husband devour a mountain lion; it was his third of the afternoon and hopefully his last as I was already full. It was a gorgeous afternoon for March, already in the 50's even with the cloud coverage; which is why out of all of the places we have lived over the years Portland was easily in my top five favorites.

"Emmett, come on, it's going to start raining soon" I pointed out the ominous looking clouds above.

"Coming babe" he called as he stood upright and wiped his mouth, a perfect grin forming on his lips. He started running towards me, his curls bouncing subtly with each stride that he took. He was about thirty feet from me when I heard a high pitched scream some distance behind us, if it wasn't for my heightened hearing I wouldn't have heard it. I had planned on ignoring it but my husband had other plans. I shook my head silently cursing his good nature before taking off after him. We ran through the woods for a minute or two before I could smell blood.

"Emmett, this isn't a good idea" I stopped running. He stopped as well but soon we heard another blood curdling scream. The scream was enough to squash my indecision; we both took off again. In a matter of a few seconds we came across the gruesome scene. An older male vampire was feeding on a woman in her late twenties or early thirties. There was another male dead beside her. Emmett ran at the vampire and pulled him away from her, with size and strength favoring heavily on his side Emmett killed him easily. Hearing a slight rustle I turned to the tent behind me. It was a large tent, too large for two people. Having been holding my breath I couldn't tell what or who had made the noise. I crouched down in front of the tent and began to unzip it.

"Please don't hurt us" I heard the soft voice of a female child; I opened the tent completely and looked at the two kids staring back at me with wide frightened eyes. One was a girl with brown hair slightly past her shoulders; she was nervously chewing on her thumb. The other was a boy with lighter hair, it fell in loose ringlets, two of which were had fallen in front of his eyes. He looked up at me with enormous dark blue eyes, his sister, I assumed, had brown eyes. .

"You're safe now" I said in the most soothing voice I could muster. The girl nodded but the boy didn't look convinced. He began to try to look beyond me, probably trying to see where his parents were, at least I assumed they were his parents, they looked very similar. "I'm Rosalie" I smiled softly at them. They were about three, maybe four years old. They were twins too, I think. The boy was a little bigger than girl, about two inches taller.

"Hi Rosalie" The girl spoke up, her eyes widening as Emmett came up behind me.

"Babe, I can't be around all of this blood for much longer" He whispered as he looked at the kids. I knew exactly how he felt, his eyes were still a soft amber color, I'm sure he wasn't breathing either. "I'm Emmett" he grinned at the frightened children and extended his hand.

"Hi Emmett" the beautiful girl smiled back at him and reached out, her small hand grabbed a hold of Emmett's before giving it a shake.

"What are your names?" he asked with a gentle smile, his dimples clearly visible.

"Bewwah" The boy pointed at his sister before leaning forward on his knees trying to get another look behind me.

"Bella" she corrected with a smile.

"Nice to meet you Bella" I smiled at her. "How about you bud, what's your name?" I tried to distract her brother.

"Joshwah" he said simply without looking back at me.

"Joshua?" Emmett asked and Joshua just nodded and stood up not falling for our attempt to distract him. I'm not sure what exactly drove me to my decision but I couldn't let him see his parents this way. I scooped him up; Emmett must have been thinking something similar because he gently picked Bella up. Not wanting to scare them we ran just a little above what we considered human speed.

We ran for about ten minutes, neither Bella nor Joshua saying a word until we reached Emmett's Jeep. I smiled as Joshua loosened his grip, his tiny hands each full with my sweater. I gently sat him at my feet, his eyes widened as he looked at me for the first time without the darkness the tent provided. It was a look I knew well, he was finally getting a look at the beauty that came with being a vampire. His lips formed an adorable little "O", I gave a small chuckle at his expression and he instantly blushed.

Emmett put Bella down and she walked to Joshua's side taking his hand. She looked up at me, tears welling in her eyes. "That man hurt my Mommy like he did my Daddy?" I felt terrible that they had seen what happened to their father. I wanted to protect them from the reality that their parents were dead but I couldn't lie to them, not about this.

"Yeah he did" I said slightly above the whisper. Joshua nodded but Bella began to cry. Joshua turned and pulled his sister into his arms, hugging her tightly. I took in a breath and sighed as it started to rain. "Would be okay if we take you to our home?" I leaned down to face the kids. Bella turned letting go of her brother, she wiped her eyes embarrassed before she nodded.

Emmett pulled out his keys, "You should ride in the back with them; they look like they're too small for the seat belts." He said too softly for the kids to hear us. I nodded and smiled at him, I kissed his cheek before opening the door to the Jeep.

We were soon our way home; I sat next to Joshua who was still holding Bella's hand. With the rain and our newly acquired precious cargo Emmett didn't drive at his normal speed; so what would normally be a two hour trip was going to take us four hours. The first hour consisted of Emmett and I asking the twins questions. We learned that they were from Forks, Washington and that they were both three years old, three and a half to be exact as Joshua had emphasized more than once.

I hadn't run out of questions but Joshua was starting to yawn. He looked exhausted, I watched him as he rested his head for a minute or two on his sister's shoulder. He made a face; it mustn't have been too comfortable. He adorably chewed on his bottom lip before gently resting his head on against my arm. Bella on the other hand looked wide awake.

We were soon on the way up our long driveway; Joshua had his head in my lap fast asleep while Bella stared out the dark window. I took in a deep breath suddenly feeling nervous about the impending conversation with the rest of my family about Joshua and Bella's futures.

**A/N – Okay guys, if you like it tell me. If there isn't a positive response I'll be killing the story. **


	2. Chapter 2

Esme's Pov

I felt a huge smile crossing my face when I heard Emmett's Jeep coming up the driveway. Alice had seen them bringing home two children, who according to Alice were absolutely adorable. She said a vampire had killed their parents, if Emmett and Rosalie hadn't gotten there when they did the kids would have been killed too. I got up from the couch with Carlisle and moved towards the window. Emmett climbed out of the driver's seat and walked along to the back, he opened the car door and picked up a small girl with brown hair and set her down at his feet.

"Come on Joshua" Rosalie spoke from inside the car.

"He looks like he is down for the count" Emmett let out a laugh. A moment passed before Rosalie climbed out carrying a very unconscious boy with gorgeous curly brown hair. Emmett started up the stairs to the house while Bella followed. She stumbled when she hit the top step, thankfully grabbed her before she hit the ground. "Careful munchkin" he smiled at her before he scooped her up and carried her inside.

"This must be Bella" I smiled broadly at the little girl. She nodded quickly and looked up as Rosalie came in carrying her brother. "Are you hungry for some dinner sweetheart?" I squatted down to her level. She nodded again and blushed, a soft smile forming on her face. Joshua began to move in Rosalie's arm as he awoke. He looked around, his eyes wide as he took in his new surroundings. Rosalie carefully set him down on the floor next to his sister.

"Hi Joshua" Carlisle crouched down beside me and smiled at the young boy. He looked back at the five of us and quickly hid behind Rosalie bashfully hiding his face behind her legs. Carlisle backed up nervously, afraid that he had scared the boy. I let out a quiet laugh as he peeked another look and smiled at Alice before hiding his face again blushing like his sister had.

"Joshua these are my parents Esme and Carlisle" Rosalie smiled as she ruffled his curly hair.

He waited a moment before peeking out at us again. "Hi" his soft voice rang out. I watched as he shared a look with Bella who nodded to some unspoken question. He slowly made his way out from behind Rosalie and moved to Bella's side. He took her hand instantly and looked at us all again.

"Would you like something to eat for dinner Joshua?" I asked and a sad frown formed on his angelic face. I chewed on my bottom lip feeling terrible for upsetting him.

"He likes to be called Josh" Edward smiled for the first time tonight. Josh looked at him suspiciously but nodded.

"Alright Josh, would you like some dinner?" I corrected myself and smiled as he nodded. "Okay, come on" I ushered them into the kitchen and the rest of my family followed. Bella and Josh went straight to the table and Josh pulled one of the chairs out before helping his sister up. After Bella was up on her chair he pulled out the one next to hers before climbing up himself.

"How does a grilled cheese sound?" Carlisle asked as he looked through the fridge impressed with the shopping that Alice and I had done after she had her vision. We weren't sure how long the twins would be staying with us but since it was a Saturday night we figured they would be with us until Monday at the least.

"Good" Josh said quickly.

"And some tomato soup?" Alice suggested as she, Rosalie and Emmett sat down at the table across from the twins. Edward and Jasper stood behind them; both of them were less than pleased with the idea of two human children staying with us, they were afraid they would get hurt.

"Yeah!" he grinned excitedly. It didn't take me long to fix up the sandwiches while Carlisle microwaved the soup.

"So Josh and Bella how old are you?" Alice asked smiling.

"Three" Bella answered.

"And half" Josh corrected instantly a serious look in his eyes.

"Is that so?" I carefully placed both plates in front of them.

"Mmhmm" Josh nodded as he picked up the sandwich. "Too big" he motioned to the sandwich. "Cut it?" He asked looking up at me.

"Of course sweetie" I cut both of their sandwiches into quarters and they began to eat immediately. Josh finished very quickly, having finished both his soup and sandwich before Bella had finished half of her sandwich. I couldn't help but laugh as he leaned against the back of the chair and patted his stomach; he looked like what I imagined Emmett would look like as a child.

Carlisle took my hand, his face riddled with in decision. I knew what he wanted to ask the twins and I knew why he hadn't asked already. We needed to know if they had any other family that could take them in. Both of their parents had been killed just hours ago and we knew that asking would bring those emotions back to the surface. "Josh? Bella? Do you know if your Mommy and Daddy had any other family, grandparents or aunts and uncles?" He finally asked.

Bella looked at him, her bottom lip beginning to tremble, "No" she took in a deep breath. "Gramma is with Mommy and Daddy" It broke my heart to see the big crocodile tears forming in her eyes.

"Okay" Carlisle nodded sadly. I noticed a familiar look washed over Alice, she was having another vision.

"No. That is a terrible idea" Edward said lowly knowing the children couldn't hear him. He must have heard something in either Carlisle's thoughts or in Alice's thoughts.

"They were safe and they looked happy" Alice shot him a quick glare.

"We'll discuss this later" I said lowly but sternly, ending the debate instantly.

"He's out again" Emmett started to laugh but Rosalie reached over pinching his arm to keep him quiet. I even had to stifle a laugh as I noticed Josh was fast asleep again.

"He fished this morning" Bella explained before taking another bite out of her sandwich. I sighed picturing him fishing with his father for the last time. "Can we sleep here tonight?" Bella asked timidly looking down at the table.

"Of course" I answered immediately. "How about in Emmett and Rosalie's room?" I suggested knowing they trusted them more than the rest of us right now.

"Okay" Bella nodded.

"Tomorrow we can go shopping to get some clothes for you and Josh, does that sound good?" Bella nodded again. It didn't take very long for Bella to finish eating; she sat back in her chair and yawned.

"Ready for bed?" Rosalie stood up from the table once Bella nodded and climbed down from her chair. Emmett got up as well and walked around the table, picking Josh up. I watched smiling as Josh wrapped his arms around Emmett's neck and rested his head on his shoulder not even opening his eyes.

I listened as they put them to bed, Josh had woken up to brush his teeth and use the restroom before going back to bed almost instantly. Bella followed suite, Rosalie and Emmett returned down stairs after about 20 minutes.

"So what are we going to do?" I asked softly as Rosalie and Emmett descended the stairs.

"They're staying I've seen it" Alice said quickly.

"Yeah, they're cute, sweet and all that but what if one of us hurts them, it isn't right" Edward interjected.

"They have nowhere else to go Edward" Carlisle looked to our oldest son.

"Fine" He let out a sigh and leaned back against the couch defeated.

**A/N – keep reviewing guys, more reviews gets you quicker updates. **


	3. Chapter 3

Edward's Pov

"Fine" I threw up my hands in frustration and sighed. I knew I wasn't going to win this argument; Rosalie and Emmett were in love with those kids before they even walked through the door. Esme had lasted until Josh had hid behind Rosalie's legs and Carlisle's dead heart melted when Bella had told us that they did not have any other family. Even Alice had fallen for the pair when she saw her vision of the two sleeping in similar twin beds in the spare room on the second floor between Esme's and Rosalie's rooms.

I still wasn't sold; it wasn't that I didn't like the kids, I did; it was the fact that their lives would always be in danger because they would be with us. We could kill them at any moment. I wasn't necessarily afraid we would hurt them now because their scents were faint as they were still very young, it won't stay that way forever. Bella was driving me pretty crazy, I couldn't hear her thoughts at all; which is something that has never happened before. Her brother's innocent thoughts were loud and clear in my head but from her there was silence. They were both incredibly shy but they shared a remarkable connection. During their introductions to the family, right before Josh finally ventured out from behind Rosalie he had asked if it was okay silently to his sister. Whether she had actually heard his thoughts or if they simply knew each other that much but she had nodded to his unanswered question.

_Well, they're going to need beds and a wardrobe set. _Esme had a very contented look in her eyes as she began to inventory the things she would be shopping for tomorrow. I knew she saw the opportunity to have children something that she had longed to have for nearly a century. Rosalie shared her excitement; she had seen the humorous resemblance that young Josh had to her husband. Rosalie and Emmett were the only ones that Bella and Josh trusted at this point but that would change. They would get to know Carlisle and his amazing compassion; Esme would love them unconditionally and be as much of a mother to them as physically possible. They would be happy here; Alice had seen it the moment Carlisle had made his mind up.

Emmett and Jasper were amazed by how little they were, neither of them having had any experience with children during their lifetimes. I didn't have any experience with kids either but after having listened to Joshua's thoughts it amused me how simple his mind worked. He had been able to basically forget about the disastrous scene he had seen hours earlier the minute Esme placed the sandwich in front of him.

_I wonder if he's too small to play football. It's possible he is pretty little. I bet Rosalie wouldn't let him even if he is big enough; I have a bad feeling that those kids are going to be wrapped in bubble wrap until they're in middle school. Actually Bella might need it; she nearly knocked her teeth out walking up the stairs. _Emmett drummed his fingers on the edge of his chair while he smiled to himself. _Rose will see football as too rough….maybe soccer, it's supposed to be non contact and I've seen those games get a little rough._ His smile grew as he imagined the possibilities.

The girls began to discuss the plans to take Bella and Josh shopping after they had their breakfast in the morning. They quickly decided on the Lloyd Center as Alice had seen that it would be a mild rainy day. I began to hear Joshua's voice in my head. His thoughts were disoriented, he must have been dreaming. I attempted to drone my family out and focus on his dream. It didn't take me long to realize that he was having a nightmare, the events from today playing through his head. He had been next to the campfire with his father when the vampire attacked, his mother quickly picked him up and put him in the tent with his sister and zipped it up after telling them to stay put. His nightmare ended and I heard him sit upright in his bed, I don't think anyone else noticed the subtle noise as Alice was still talking about going to IKEA to get two temporary beds for the twins until they can order a bedroom set.

I looked up hearing a set of feet thump on the floor above us. _Why is it dark? I want my blanket. _ I heard Josh upstairs as he slowly navigated his way to the door, he must have already forgotten his nightmare. He struggled a little with the door knob but was soon on his way downstairs. His curls were pushed up on one side, there was a subtle crease on his cheek from what I assumed was his pillow and there were tears beginning to fall out of his eyes.

_Oh the poor baby. _ Rosalie got up from her seat and walked towards him at a human pace and met him a little more than halfway down the stairs. "What's wrong sweetheart?" She asked as she bent down leveling her face with his.

"Can I sleep down here?" He asked softly as he looked at his feet. He quickly tried to wipe away his tears, obviously embarrassed that he was crying.

"Of course" Rosalie gently picked him up, I watched as his small fists curled with the fabric of her sweater as he held on to her. I moved from my position on the couch as Rosalie carried Josh down the stairs. She carefully put him down and sat down next to him. He looked around the room for a moment before laying down putting his head into her lap. He shifted his position a few times and contorted his face. _Like rock, _I smiled and let out a quiet laugh.

"He doesn't look very comfortable" Alice commented knowing his ears could not pick up her quiet voice. She got up and grabbed a small throw pillow before handing it to Rosalie. She slipped it under his head and his face began to relax.

"What about a blanket?" I suggested remembering his complaint when he first woke up. By the way he had called it his blanket I knew he wasn't referring to a generic blanket but I hoped a substitute would placate him tonight.

"Good idea" Alice made her way upstairs and returned with a small fleece blanket, one of the many props we had throughout the house. She tucked the blanket around Josh and smiled at him as he started to go back to sleep. "He is too cute" Alice looked at Esme who nodded in agreement.

We stayed relatively silent for until Josh was out again, it only took him ten minutes. The girls spent a few more hours inventorying toys and other things that our house would need to be a proper environment for two 3 year olds. Rosalie stayed perfectly still while Josh slept, she would occasionally play with his hair. They discussed whether or not the twins were too young for preschool or day care and concluded that they were but that they were probably not ready quite yet.

Bella woke up around 8 in the morning after sleeping soundly through the night. I heard her small feet land on the floor and Esme got up and headed upstairs to greet the youngster. "Good morning sweetie" I listened as Esme entered Rosalie and Emmett's room. I didn't hear Bella speak but Esme quietly explained that Josh was downstairs. Esme was soon coming down the stairs with Bella in tow. She had a hold of three of Esme's fingers; it was all that her tiny hands could grasp for support as she walked down the stairs.

"How did you sleep Bella?" Carlisle asked as he smiled at the girl.

"Good" She blushed at his smile, her small cheeks reddening with sweet bashfulness.

"Are you hungry for breakfast?" Alice asked from her spot in Jasper's lap. Bella nodded and walked straight to her brother.

"Up sleepy head" she pushed on his shoulder until he awoke. "Breakfast time" she explained as he looked at her less than pleased with the fact that she had gotten him up. His lips formed a small "O" shape and he nodded. "Come on" she took a hold of his hand and pulled him impatiently from the couch.

Rosalie laughed as she watched the two and followed them into the kitchen. Josh must have always had manners enforced because he helped Bella into her seat before climbing into the oversized chair himself. "Would you like some cereal?" Esme offered as she opened one of the cabinets eyeing the four different varieties that they had picked up at the grocery store. _We should have gotten something with less sugar. _Esme shook her head seeing the sweetened cereals that Alice had picked out.

"Okay" Josh nodded and stood up in his chair trying to get a look at the options. His small socked feet slipped on the polished wood, he nearly fell but Emmett grabbed him before any damage had been done. Josh giggled loudly from Emmett's hands.

"How about I take you for a closer took?" Emmett smiled and carried the boy to the cabinet.

"Cappin Crutch!" Joshua's excited voice rang out as he grabbed the box of Captain Crunch. "Me and Cappin make it happin" Everyone laughed as he recited his own version of the cereal's slogan. Emmett carried Josh back to his seat as he grasped the cereal box that much too big for his hands.

"What would you like to eat Bella?" Esme asked with a sweet smile. Bella's eyebrows furrowed as she thought about the question at hand.

"Captin Crutch" She finally decided.

"Okay then, two bowls of Captain Crunch coming up" Josh handed the cereal box to Esme and she quickly prepared two bowls. Rosalie poured two glasses of orange juice and set them in front of the twins. Bella seemed set on waiting to drink hers but Josh grabbed the cup with both hands and tried to sip it down. I was surprised it was Jasper's laugh that I heard first as the orange juice began to run down the front of Joshua's shirt.

"Remember to add smaller glasses to that list of yours Alice" Carlisle smiled as Josh attempted to clean up his mess with his shirt sleeves. "You and Jasper should also get ready for the shopping trip" Everyone was in the same clothes we were from last night. Soon everyone but Bella and Josh had taken a shower and changed into clean clothes. It took us an unusually long time to get ready as we were forced to do things at human speed. When I returned from my shower Bella and Josh were sitting on the couch watching a ninja turtles cartoon with Emmett. Emmett seemed to be enjoying it as much as they did.

"We ready?" Josh slid off the couch having noticed I was the last to finish up. He was clearly in much better spirits than a few hours ago.

"Yes, Josh we're ready" Rosalie smiled "Are you ready?" _He is just so sweet. _She watched his hair bounce as he nodded. His hair was much neater than when they had first woken up; someone must have gotten to him with a comb. Even Bella's hair was up in a small pony tail on the back of her head.

We all walked out to the garage, Jasper and Carlisle had removed the back seats from the Jeep knowing that the shopping trip would include a stop by IKEA. Knowing that there would dozens of bags to be stored we split into three cars. Rosalie and Emmett would be riding in her Benz with the twins, Carlisle, Esme, Jasper and Alice would be riding with Carlisle and I was being forced to drive the Jeep which while it wasn't my Volvo it wasn't that bad.

Since we did not having any car seats yet Rosalie rode in the back in between Bella and Josh just in case something were to happen. I was impressed by how quickly Rosalie stepped into the protective parenting role, twenty four hours ago I would have described her as vapid and shallow but it seemed like those words no longer applied. Her thoughts often dwelled on her own beauty but not once since she brought Bella and Josh had her thoughts centered on herself. She was starting to remind me of Esme which is something she should be proud of.

**A/N – Thanks for all of the reviews, keep them up and the updates will keep coming. **


	4. Chapter 4

Carlisle's Pov

Esme was incredibly excited about having the twins stay with us; to her the twins were a second chance at raising children. I saw Edward, Emmett, Jasper, Alice and Rosalie as my children but they were completely sufficient on their own, things would be different with Joshua and Bella. There would be skinned knees and broken hearts, they would get into trouble just like every normal child. I didn't know if we were necessarily the best option for them but at the time being there were no other options. If we took them back to Forks they would be probably put into foster care where a majority of the kids never get a fair shake at life. They would have a chance with us.

The drive to the mall took longer than it normally did; Emmett seemed to be set on going five under the speed limit because Joshua and Bella were in the car. "So what exactly do we have to expect with two three and a half year olds?" Jasper asked from the backseat.

"Lots of messes" Esme chuckled softly.

"I have a feeling Josh is going to be a handful" Alice took her husbands' hand while she smiled.

"Just a feeling huh?" I raised an accusatory eyebrow as I looked at her in the rear view mirror. Alice didn't normally have feelings, she had visions.

"Actually yeah, he is much more indecisive than Bella. Everything I see regarding him changes quickly." Alice explained.

"I'm sure you'll get used to it" Jasper gave her a supportive smile and put his arm around her shoulder. "So besides messes, is there anything I need to be aware of?"

"Just remember that they are human and very fragile. You should be fine" Esme smiled as she turned back to look at him.

"They're potty trained and everything?" He didn't seem convinced that this would be simple.

"Yes, they're potty trained. Stop worrying" Alice rolled her eyes. We were soon pulling into the parking lot at the Lloyd Center. Edward smiled at us as she leaned casually against Emmett's Jeep. Emmett pulled in immediately after we did. Rosalie climbed out and lifted Bella up out of the back. Josh stood up on the leather seat as he eyed the pavement a few feet below. It was another warm day so the top on the car was down. "Oh…no,no" Alice climbed out the car quickly as Josh jumped from the back of the car. She gave a sigh as she caught him. "See this is what I meant" Alice shot us a smile as she put Josh down.

"Why you stop me? I can do it myself" He narrowed his eyes at her and crossed his arms over his chest. Her eyes widened as he pouted his lip.

"Josh, she was just helping, you could have gotten hurt" Rosalie crouched down next to Josh, she ruffled his curls affectionately.

"You sure?" He asked Rosalie softly, his eyes never leaving Alice.

"I'm sure bud" She nodded.

"Okie, thank you" He finally smiled at Alice.

"You're welcome" Alice nodded before giving Rosalie an appreciative smile. "Ready for some shopping?" She asked the twins excitedly, Bella smiled and nodded before reaching up and taking Emmett's hand. Josh must have felt bad for how he treated Alice because he walked up to her and carefully grabbed a hold of her hand. I was surprised neither of them seemed to notice or care how cold we were to the touch, their innocence and trust was remarkable.

We were soon inside of some sort of children's clothing store, Gymboree I believe. I stood off to the side with Emmett and Jasper as neither of us could claim that children's fashion was a passion of ours. Edward had volunteered to take care of the bedroom set and I knew we probably wouldn't see him until we got home.

Alice was in her own little shopping zone and already had about half a dozen outfits that she wanted the kids to try on. "So Bella what do you think about this dress?" Alice showed her an adorable yellow sundress.

"Its pretty" Bella smiled and timidly reached out touching the fabric.

"Let's try it on okay?" Alice smiled back and walked with Bella into the changing rooms. Well over an hour later she was still showing the kids outfits.

"No more Alice!" I looked up as I heard Josh's raised voice. Suddenly I saw the shirtless boy run out of the changing rooms giggling. Josh ran right behind Jasper and tried to hide. "Pwease Jasssper no more" Jasper looked down at the boy with wide eyes. Alice emerged from the changing room with a small t shirt in her hands and a puzzled expression on her face.

I watched Jasper's expression change from fear almost instantly, I knew he was nervous about his self control but that didn't seem to be a problem anymore. "I'll talk to her okay?"He crouched down to be level with Josh.

"Okie" he nodded.

Jasper stood upright again and walked over to Alice. "Babe, you know his sizes by now right?" He waited for Alice to nod, "Why don't you just 'imagine' what he will look like?"

"But this is so much more fun" Alice whined, Jasper laughed and planted a tender kiss on her forehead before trying to give her a serious look. "Fine, fine. Why don't you boys take him over to a toy store? We'll meet you there once we finish up here." It took a little coaxing to get Josh to leave Bella with the girls but we were soon on our way to the toy store.

We spent nearly all day out shopping, I would have given the girls a hard time about the number of bags they had when they met us at the cars but we may have actually out done them with the number of toys we had bought. I discovered almost immediately that I couldn't say no to Josh, all he needed to do to make me putty in his hands was say please or pwease as he commonly said. Bella had mastered her "L"s much better than Josh had but it was something we could work on.

Josh and Bella had both fallen asleep during the ride back to the house. Esme and Rosalie carefully picked them up and carried them inside. Edward had done surprisingly well taking care of their bedroom set; he had gotten two twin beds, a dresser set and one of the smallest table sets I had ever seen. He had even picked up a few sets of children's plates, utensils and cups. Esme and Rosalie changed the twins into their PJ's for their naps before putting them to bed.

Jasper, Emmett and I had already started to put together some of their toys, for children's toys these things we ridiculously complicated. "You guys went a little overboard" Esme smiled as she slid into the open space on the couch next to me.

"You say that as if there is an item left at that mall in a children's size four" I gave her a playful smile as I met her lips with mine.

"I love you" her voice was hardly a whisper as she broke our kiss. I couldn't help but smile, things felt very right with Bella and Josh living us.

**A/N – Alrighty in the next chapter the twins are going to be a little older. Keep up the reviews. **


	5. Chapter 5

Esme's Pov

"Mom" Josh's voice rang out from his room; even though I was just down the hall I knew everyone in the house heard it. I knew instantly what was wrong, there were only two reasons he would get up in the middle of the night, he either had a nightmare or he was sick. Since he wasn't already in here asking if he could sleep in our room I knew he must be sick. Josh got sick much more frequently than Bella did. I'm sure it was because of his fondness for eating food off the floor, it was something Carlisle and I were trying to correct but it didn't help that every time he ate something off the floor Emmett would laugh and say "five second rule."

"Don't you tell him Emmett, he'll never go back to sleep" I heard Rosalie scolding her husband in the hallway. We were surprising the twins in the morning with a trip to Disney World in Orlando. It's something we've wanted to do for months but the sunny weather in Orlando had put the plans on halt. According to Alice we were guaranteed warm cloudy weather for the week. It took us a while to decide on a hotel, I had wanted to rent a Villa at their Animal Kingdom but Alice informed us that wasn't a great idea as Emmett would attempt to feed on just about every exotic species that was there. We eventually settled on the Grand Floridian which made Alice and Rosalie happy as there would be a five star spa at the resort. I smiled as I heard Emmett huff and finally give a sigh. I opened the door to mine and Carlisle's room trying to suppress a smile as I realized my entire family had gathered in the hallway.

"We're still going right, even if he's sick?" Emmett asked with a humorous urgency.

"We will see Emmett" I smiled at his excitement; having to keep our trip a secret was driving him crazy. "Keep it down though alright? Rosalie's right, if he even suspects we're going he won't go back to bed. Then I'll make you deal with his crankiness. Got it?" Rosalie gave Emmett a smug smile as I walked past them and to the twins' room. Even with the lights off with the exception of their night light I could see the room as clear as if it were day. Josh's side was strangely always neater than Bella's which had a few items of clothing strewn across the floor.

"Mom?" Josh lifted his head from his pillow and coughed harshly. His curls were a wild mess like they were every time he slept; his nose on the other hand was bright red.

"What's the matter baby?" I sat on the edge of his bed and reached for his cheek. He was warmer than normal but he wasn't warm enough to cause me to be alarmed.

"Sick" He explained simply and rested his head against his pillow again.

"Sick huh? Well that's no good is it?" I smiled as I moved his hair from his forehead. The twins had just turned five a little over a month ago about the time that we started them in kindergarten. I hated that they were gone most of the day now but as Carlisle frequently reminded me, they needed to go to school.

"Nope, no good" his voice was still in a whisper as he knew how much Bella hated being woken up before she was ready.

"Can you sit tight for a moment while I get you some of that orange cough syrup you like?" He nodded and gave me a soft smile. I got up and walked to the door where I was met by Rosalie who had already retrieved the cough syrup from our medicine cabinet.

"So it's just a cold?" She asked as she handed the small bottle to me.

"I think so, we'll see in the morning" I gave her a soft smile before returning to Josh's bed. He drank a capful down easily and asked if I would stay until he fell asleep. He made more than enough room for me in his bed and curled up against me and his blanket. I stayed with him for about an hour before carefully slipping from the bed. The hallway was empty so everyone must have returned to whatever it was they were doing before. I opened our bedroom door and smiled at my husband who was carefully folding some clothes and putting them into a suitcase. "Getting ready to go?" I wrapped my arms around his waist affectionately.

"Yupp" he smiled and turned planting a kiss on my forehead. "Do you think they're going to enjoy themselves?"

"Of course they will, it's Disney" I chuckled at the absurdity of his question. It had been a little over a year and a half since Josh and Bella started living with us, it surprising how quickly two people can ingrain themselves onto your entire being; I couldn't imagine my life without them in it. It surprised me how much trial and error goes into raising children. Most would assume that since Bella and Josh were twins that they would have similar interests, but that wasn't the case with our munchkins.

Bella was a little angel who rarely got into any trouble at all; she loved spending her days either with me in the garden, with Edward at his piano or with Alice doing some sort of arts and crafts. She went to bed with ease but was not a happy camper if she didn't get a full night's rest. We made the mistake of signing both of them up for AYSO soccer; it took us about 15 minutes into their first game to realize that Bella had no future in athletics. She had spent most of the time chasing around a butterfly that had wandered onto their field and whenever she attempted to kick the ball she ended up on her butt.

As Alice had predicted Josh was a handful, he was always on the go and testing his physical limits. Just a few days ago he was playing hide and seek with Bella, Jasper and Emmett, he had hidden in the linen closet but instead of hiding in the bottom under some towels and blankets he scaled the shelves and got stuck at the top. It took Jasper about 20 minutes to get him down. Getting him involved in soccer turned out to be a great outlet for his excess energy, unlike Bella he was a natural on the field. Outside of his excess energy he was a really great kid. He absolutely loved building things out of Legos with Carlisle; they would spend hours on Carlisle's days off putting together little kits while Josh asked Carlisle about pretty much everything. Bella wasn't as inquisitive as Josh was; she basically accepted the world around her for what it was. Josh on the other hand wanted to know everything about everything; he was always asking why.

We were yet to tell them what we really were. We wanted to wait until they were old enough to completely understand but with Josh's ability to find trouble I had a feeling that we would be exposed before we could sit down and explain everything to them. I wasn't really worried about how they would react once they found out because in the relatively short time they have been living with us we became their family. Josh and Bella both referred to me and Carlisle as Mom and Dad. The only concern I really had was their ability to keep it a secret, Josh couldn't keep a secret to save his life and Bella wasn't much better.

"You're bringing a swimsuit aren't you?" Carlisle's gentle voice brought me out of my thoughts.

"Of course, Alice is positive the sun won't be out for even a minute during the entire trip"

**A/N – Thanks for all of the reviews guys, keep it up. More reviews get you quicker updates. **


	6. Chapter 6

Rosalie's Pov

"So….Pleasure Island is supposed to be pretty awesome" Emmett grinned as he continued tossing things haphazardly into his suitcase. I swear he's more excited about going to Disney than Josh and Bella, both of which had been told about our trip about an hour ago. I could hear them downstairs; Esme was trying to get them to sit down long enough to eat breakfast, she wasn't having a lot of success. Alice was in their room packing enough clothes for a month even though we were only going to be gone a week.

"Oh hush you know every time we try to go to a night club you stop us from even getting out the door" I gave him a playful smile as I did a final check over the contents of my suitcase.

"Ha! Like that's all my fault"

"It is"

"Right" he gave a laugh before sticking his tongue out at me. I smiled as I heard the rapid thumping of feet coming up the stairs; it had to be Josh as Bella never ran in the house. I opened the door to our room, laughing softly as Josh turned the corner from the stairs to the hallway.

"What on earth is on your shirt?" I tried to make a straight face as I looked him up and down.

"Nothing…come on, let's go I can't be late for Mickey" he said seriously. His cheeks were flushed, even with his excitement for Disney World he still wasn't feeling well.

"Is this syrup?" I reached out touching the gooey substance covering most of the front of his shirt. He nodded, his curls bouncing as he did. "Did you manage to get any of it in your stomach?" I smiled and took his hand walking him into his room.

"A little bit" he shrugged his shoulders as I picked him up and sat him down on the bed before going into his dresser to find him another shirt. I grabbed a black polo shirt that went with his faded jeans perfectly. I turned back towards him unable to stifle my laugh as I saw he had his shirt already off and his arms above his head waiting for the clean shirt.

"So are you ready to meet Mickey?" Esme smiled as she carried Bella into the room.

"Yupp" Bella grinned excitedly; Alice had dressed her in a light pink shirt and dark blue jeans.

"Good, How about we pack up your backpacks for the flight? It's going to be pretty boring without something to do" Bella nodded and grabbed her embroidered polka dotted backpack and emptied it onto her bed while Josh carefully removed the contents of his and placed them on his desk. Esme helped them gather some coloring books and other activities for the flight.

"Alright munchkins, ready to go?" I asked softly, Josh grabbed his bag and hurried to my side, Bella following a step behind.

"I'm just going to do a final check, make sure we didn't forget anything. Can you take them downstairs and get them into the car?" Esme asked me as she started to tidy up the area surrounding Bella's bed.

"Absolutely" I gave her and nod before leading Josh and Bella downstairs. Josh hurried into the living room grinning as he saw Emmett leaning against the back of the couch. It took Josh about ten seconds to climb onto the couch and jump onto Emmett's back.

"Onward!" He shouted and pointed at the door.

"Alright, Alright." Emmett laughed and carried Josh out to the car. We were soon on the way to the airport; I was riding with Jasper, Alice, Edward and Emmett in Edward's Volvo while Josh and Bella rode with Carlisle and Esme. I was actually enjoying the silence; I knew full well that Josh was either some children's song with Bella or asking about everything under the sun. I swear that boy's favorite word is why.

Getting through security was a nightmare; Bella had refused to let the TSA agent touch her backpack because he was a stranger and while we were trying to convince her that it was okay Josh had attempted to climb into the x-ray machine. Apparently he wanted to see what he looked like on the inside. Thankfully once we all finally got through the flight was already boarding.

I smiled as Edward helped Bella into her seat next to his; the whole lot of us consumed almost the entire first class section. "Will you color with me Edward?" She asked him with a cute smile, he would do anything she asked him too but thankfully for Edward she hasn't realized that yet. A barely audible chuckle escaped his lips as he was clearly reading my thoughts.

"Absolutely, how about from here?" A large smile formed on his face as dug into his backpack and pulled out a brand new Disney coloring book.

"Wow" Bella's eyes widened as she snatched the book from his hands. "Is it for me?"

"It's for both of us" he smiled and got the crayons out of her bag. I took my seat across the aisle from them and behind Emmett and Josh. I drew the figurative short straw and had to sit next to an uptight looking man in his fifties. I rolled my eyes as he looked me up and down.

About fifteen minutes after we took off the bubbly fake blond flight attendant came around offering us all beverages. I couldn't help but notice she was eyeing Emmett lustfully while she stood in the aisle looking down at them. I mustn't have the only to notice because Josh looked at her through narrowed eyes. "Hey lady, what is your problem?" He raised one eyebrow as he continued to look at her. "He's married" he scolded her and crossed his arms over his chest. Josh got pretty cranky when he wasn't feeling well, not to mention he hated when people looked at us the way they tended to because of our vampiric good looks.

The flight attendants mouth dropped and her cheeks reddened as laughter overtook my family. She cleared her throat trying to regain her composure. "Can I get either of you something to drink?" She stumbled with her words.

"Coke" Josh answered with a nod before coughing.

"No caffeine for you, apple juice will be fine" Esme cut in.

"Nothing for me" Emmett waved his hand and gave her a slight smile. She nodded quickly and returned to the front of the plane.

"Sweetheart, it's time for some more cough syrup alright?" Esme gave Josh a soft smile and got up from her seat. After retrieving the medicine from her bag she measured out the dosage and handed him the small cup. His face scrunched up adorably as he downed the orange liquid. Seven long hours later we touched down in Orlando, Josh had spent the majority of the flight asleep against Emmett and Bella spent the entire time coloring with Edward.


	7. Chapter 7

Carlisle's Pov

We were soon on our way to the Grand Floridian, Josh was out cold in the back seat; Bella on the other hand was bouncing up and down in her booster seat in a manner that reminded me of Alice. With the time change it was about 7 o'clock so we couldn't really get settled into the hotel and get to one of the parks before it was too late. Alice had of course seen this and booked us at reservation at one of the hotel's restaurants. Apparently they have Disney characters that visit the table during the meal so they wouldn't actually have to wait until tomorrow to meet the great Mickey and Minnie.

"Are we there yet daddy?" Bella looked at me in the rearview mirror.

"Not quite sweetie" I smiled at her and she gave out a sigh. Traffic wasn't too bad but it wasn't ideal; it took us nearly an hour to finally get to our rooms. Jasper, Alice, Rosalie, Emmett and Edward were sharing a substantially large three bedroom suite. Josh and Bella were staying with me and Esme in our suite. Josh had finally woken up from what couldn't really be described as a nap as he was unconscious for nearly 6 hours straight.

"When can I see Mickey?" Bella asked impatiently as she climbed onto our bed.

"Bella, no jumping on the bed you know better than that" Esme sighed but still managed to give her a stern look. I tried not to smile, Josh was sitting quietly on the edge of the couch still wiping the sleep from his eyes; neither of them ever seemed to be hyper at the same time. Normally it was Josh who was trying to give Esme gray hairs not Bella.

"Alice said the restaurant requires formal attire" I reminded Esme as I hung my garment bag in the closet.

"Ah ha, that's why Alice had me pack Bella's dress and Josh's suit" A beautiful smile crossed my wife's face; she grabbed the remote control to the television and flipped on some cartoons. Being ever cautious she kissed the top of Josh's head and walked to the door putting the chain lock on. It wasn't for fear of someone entering to the room but she didn't want Josh or Bella wandering off.

"So do you want to take Josh or Bella?" I asked quietly as I grabbed my suit from the closet.

"Bella, her dress has fewer pieces" my wife smiled at me as she grabbed her dress out of the garment bag as well. We walked to together into the enormous bathroom to change. Esme put on a breathtakingly gorgeous blue cocktail dress while I changed into my classic black suite. After we finished changing we headed back into the bedroom.

"Wow mommy" Josh gasped as he looked at her. "So pretty"

"Well thank you Josh" she smiled at him.

"What about me huh?" I smirked, teasing Josh.

"You look pretty too?" I laughed as Josh looked at me slightly alarmed.

"Oh yes very pretty Carlisle" Esme laughed. "Come on Bella, let's get go get you ready" Bella got off the bed and hurried over to her. Esme took Bella's hand gently and led her into her and Josh's room to change.

"Alright bud, come on" I scooped Josh up and tossed him over my shoulder as he erupted into giggles. Getting Josh into a two piece suit was as closed to wrangling a cat as I thought ever possible. It took me about fifteen minutes but I finally managed to get him into his herringbone jacket, khaki pants, green button down, and red and blue striped tie.

"I look stupid" Josh crossed his arms over his chest as he looked at himself in the full length mirror. The bedroom door opened and Esme peered in.

"You most certainly do not Joshua, you look very handsome." I tried to hide my smirk as Josh rolled his eyes.

"Not uh. You have to say that 'cuz you're a mom"

"Shh" Esme hushed him as she walked into the room, Bella followed at her heels wearing a gorgeous pink dress with a white sash tied in a bow in the back.

"What the hell is this?" I heard Alice from behind the door as she was met by the chain lock. Bella gasped as she heard her profanity.

"Alice, language" Bella scolded bringing a fresh smile to my face, she sounded just like Esme.

"I told you we shouldn't have let her have that extra key" I snickered as I walked to the door to unlock it.

"I heard that" Alice chirped from the hallway. We were all soon on our way to downstairs to dinner. The moment we entered the grand dining room Bella saw the large Mickey Mouse costume and took off.

"Mickey!" She shouted at him, he turned around to face her expecting at the very lease to be asked for his autograph. Bella had other plans. She ran into him at full speed for a hug. She must have hit him pretty hard because she knocked him clean off his feet. The actor inside landed with a thud on their butt. "You okay Mickey?" She asked innocently as she smiled at the oversized cartoon character.

"I am so sorry" Esme apologized as she came up behind Bella; even with her apologies she was unable to hide her smile. Mickey waved his hand, gesturing to her that it was fine. Like a true champ he got up and gave Bella a hug. She buried herself in his polyester tuxedo and smiled. "Okay kiddo, it's time to eat" Esme gently pulled Bella away and walked back over towards us.

"That was awesome, he flew like a good yard or so" Emmett grinned.

"Bells you almost killed Mickey" Josh looked at her seriously.

"Not uh, he's okay" Bella narrowed her eyes at her twin.

"Mickey's fine, come on you guys, our table is ready" We finally sat down for our family dinner, well I'm not sure you could call it a family dinner, only Josh and Bella would be eating.

**A/N – 10 reviews on that last chapter, awesome guys thanks. See more reviews get you faster updates. On a side note, the first time I apparently saw Tigger at Disney I knocked him on his butt so that's where that came from. **


	8. Chapter 8

Esme's Pov

Once Josh and Bella finished eating dinner we took them back upstairs. Within just a few minutes it became clear that Josh wasn't going to bed anytime soon, sleeping during the entire flight had thrown off his internal clock. With some brown nosing and borderline pleading from Emmett's end we decided to go for a swim before putting the twins to bed for the night. Edward had taught both Bella and Josh how to swim during the previous summer on cloudy days at the local pool. Bella absolutely loved being in the water with Edward. Josh liked the pool but not nearly as much as Bella, for Josh the pool was all about the games that Emmett and Jasper liked to play with them.

"Okay Mommy, I'm ready" Josh came out of the bathroom with his swim trunks on and his matching orange and blue surf shirt on. He wouldn't really need the surf shirt here as I'm sure the water was much warmer than it was in Portland.

"Finally, slow poke" Bella got up quickly from her spot on the couch. He hadn't really taken that long to get ready but Bella had changed in much less time than he did, she only moved that quickly when swimming was involved.

"Alright, come on you two" I grabbed my canvas bag with our towels in it. The rest of my children were waiting in the hallway outside of our suite, each in their swimming attire. Bella's excitement must have been contagious for Josh because they both ran to the elevator. I couldn't help but laugh as Josh gave a frustrated sigh, Bella must have beaten him to the down button.

"Josh, Bella be careful" Carlisle called out as they all but ran out of the elevator and down the short but ornate staircase that led down into the lobby of the hotel.

"Okay Daddy" Bella turned her head to look at Carlisle, stumbling slightly as the rubbery sole of her water shoe caught on the marble step.

"Oh no" Alice's hand went quickly to her mouth as her eyes clouded like they always did as a vision washed over her. Josh put his arm out to stabilize Bella which he succeeded in but in the process stumbled himself. I took in the number of people in the lobby and decided it would be too risky to move at top speed to stop him from losing his balance. Instead of falling the distance to the floor Josh pushed with his feet and jumped the last two steps landing upright at the bottom of the stairs. If it wouldn't have been for my heightened hearing I would have missed the strange pop that occurred along with the thud from his landing.

"Owww" Josh's hands dropped quickly to his leg. Carlisle and I hurried at slightly above human speed to his side as tears filled his blue eyes. "Oww" he groaned again and reached grabbing a little above his ankle as he shifted his weight onto his other leg. "Mommy?" He looked up at me as tears started down his face and his bottom lip began to tremble.

"Its okay buddy" Carlisle picked him up and carried him over to a small couch in the near the front desk of the lobby. "Where does it hurt Josh?" He asked softly as he looked at Josh's injured leg. I crouch down along with my husband as I looked at both of his legs trying to notice even the slightest difference between the two. He pointed towards the upper part of his ankle. There was a little difference in the size of his ankles; his injured one was slightly larger already.

I felt Alice's petite hand on my shoulder, "His ankle is broken, he's fine and it's minor but he needs to the hospital." She said softly with a frown on her face as she ruffled Josh's ringlets. "It's going to be okay Josh" she forced a soft smile trying to keep him calm.

"It hurts" a few more tears escaped his eyes as looked at Carlisle. Edward walked to the front desk to ask for some ice and to ask for one of the rental cars to be brought around; I assumed he had heard something in Carlisle's thoughts. The young employee returned in a little over a minute with a grocery bag of ice and a small instant ice pack from a first aid kit. She gave Josh a sympathetic frown as she looked him; his bottom lip was shaking as he fought the urge to cry more than he was already.

Well Alice was right, like she always was, after about an hour at the emergency room confirmed this. His fibula had broken at the base of his ankle. The fracture was not displaced, the orthopedic doctor that was working at the emergency room was sure he would even be able to walk on the cast after the pain subsided in two or three days. Josh was heartbroken with the thought of missing out on Disney because of his cast. The doctor made sure one of the friendly nurses showed him how to walk on his small crutches.

By the time we got back to the hotel it was well after midnight, with the assistance of the pain killers Josh had fallen asleep during the car ride from the hospital. Carlisle and I were greeted at the door to our suite by the rest of our children with the exception of Bella who was asleep in her bed.

Bella woke up about six hours later and quietly got from bed. We ordered her room service for breakfast, knowing that Josh wouldn't be feeling well enough to walk around Carlisle and I decided we would stay at the hotel with him and insisted that everyone else take Bella to one of the parks for a few hours. Knowing how much Bella as well as he did Edward suggested that they go to Epcot.

Bella seemed to have the of her life even though it was obvious that she missed having Josh with her, they had returned with four different stuffed animals from the various gift shops. Within just ten minutes of being back from the park Jasper had decided that if Josh was feeling up to it we would all go spend a few hours at one of the parks and that he would carry Josh around on his shoulders if he had to. He explained to me later that Josh was so bummed out because of missing a day of fun that Jasper didn't want him to feel that way again.

Well Josh was quite willing to enjoy the park from Jasper's shoulders and in the morning we all went to the Magic Kingdom for the day. Proving he was a true trooper Josh was walking on his own in his booted cast within two days. Epcot and MGM studios had proven to be Joshua's favorite while Bella was enchanted with the Magic Kingdom and the Animal Kingdom. The only part Josh was unable to visit was the water park that he was looking forward too. The rest of the trip went off without a hitch with the minor exception of nearly having to drag Josh and Bella onto our return flight home.

**A/N Hey guys, thanks for the reviews. Keep it up.**


	9. Chapter 9

Alice's Pov

"No point. You cheated, stupid vampire." Josh glared at Emmett as he pumped his arms over his head celebrating his goal. They were playing a "very serious" pseudo water polo with a beach ball and no goals. They would have been playing with a real ball and goals but Jasper had popped the last real ball earlier in the morning after a heated game with Edward. "No human can jump the high" Josh rolled his eyes as he climbed out of the pool to get the errant ball.

Bella and Josh had a half day at school because of parent teacher conferences and since it was a beautiful sunny day we were "forced" to miss school. It was already two months into the new school year but we were having a gorgeous Indian summer so we had decided to keep the pool open much longer than we had planned. The pool was something Esme had insisted on in the new home because Bella really loved swimming. We had only been in Syracuse for since the beginning of July but for all of us it already felt like home.

So far Syracuse had been great, Carlisle was really enjoying his new job and the high school wasn't terrible. There was a strange increase in crime downtown as of recently though. Carlisle had his theories about what was going on because there had also been increase in wild animal attacks in suburban areas. He was very sure that a coven of our kind was responsible. I attempted to watch the attackers closely but their actions had proven to be wild and indecisive. He wondered if it was possible that they were newborns as their actions seemed only based on instinct.

Josh and Bella loved their new school and new friends. Both also adored their new teacher who taught third and fourth grade classes. Right about now she was explaining to Carlisle and Esme that she thought Josh would be better served by being moved ahead to the fourth grade class. After spending a lot of time with Josh she decided he was ahead of his classmates in overall comprehension and is sort of wasting his mind by not being challenged. Esme would be nervous at first about not having the twins in the same class but she would make her mind up quickly that it would be good for Josh to be moved ahead.

Most teachers would have seen Josh's behavior in class as either acting out of having one of those newly popular learn disability but Josh had perfect grades; his main problem was that he suffered from boredom whenever he finished his class work long before everyone else. His teacher, Ms. Gunning had given him extra math and science activities as somewhat of a punishment for distracting his classmates, he ended up being able to do the problems zero difficulty so she started giving him tougher material.

"Okay, I got it." Josh called out loudly as he leaped into the pool holding the beach ball. A smile crossed Emmett's face as an idea filled his head. I watched in my mind as I saw him and Josh trying to whisper to each other while I watched Bella and Jasper have a "race" down and back the length of the pool. Jasper would be going much slower than he could really go and Bella knew this but she still liked beating her big brother in a race. Josh then gave a toothy grin; it was look that usually resulted in Emmett being grounded and Josh receiving some sort of timeout as punishment for their prank.

A few hours advanced in my vision and I saw Rosalie shouting at Emmett because of her damp blouse. Josh and Emmett had wrapped a piece of scotch tape around the spray nozzle attached to the kitchen sink. Edward's soft chuckle pulled me from my vision. He rolled his eyes and smiled, for Edward as long as he or Bella were not the subject of their hijinks he wouldn't forewarn anyone.

"Come on Jasper five minutes was up a few minutes ago, you promised" Bella splashed water at up my husband and me. A little over a year ago we had told them that we were vampires. Bella had no real opinion on the matter, for her it wasn't an issue; Josh flat out thought it was awesome. He loved seeing all of us do things at vampire speed; Edward said he sees all of us sort of as superheroes. His only complaints occurred when one of us would cheat or use our gifts to prevent him from doing things potentially hazardous to his health.

"Alright munchkin" Jasper smiled and got up from his lounge position next to me. He slipped into the pool the sun glimmering gorgeously as stood up shaking his hair like a dog.

"Jasper!" Bella shrieked as she got a face full of water.

"Bella!" He mock shrieked and lifted her up before he fell backwards into the water pulling her under with him. I was so impressed how well Jasper has managed to control himself; a decade ago I never could have imagined him being so close and affectionate with two humans. He was extremely protective of both Josh and Bella. Just a week ago I had to talk him down from scaring a third grade boy to death who liked to pull Bella's pigtails. After getting close to the obnoxious child he realized the poor kid just had a crush on her.

"Stop it!" she giggled as she pulled away from Jasper's hands.

"Emmett, stop cheating!" Josh let out an exaggerated groan. I watched as the beach ball bounced off of the bluestone tiles surrounding the pool. It bounced over the small chain link fence and landed a few feet into the woods that surrounded our home. It was obvious that Emmett had tossed the ball much harder than what Josh thought was fair. I smiled as Josh gave a frustrated roll of his eyes as climbed out of the pool walking towards the gate in the fence.

My vision faded from reality into the future as I stared at the crystal clear water. Josh was picking up the stray ball from the next to a large tree. I watched as three vampires with blood red eyes lurking in the shadows that the forest provided. By the expression on their faces they were surprised to see Josh, having only smelled us they were curious our family. I can't believe I could have missed this. I closed my eyes as an attempt to block out the images that followed.

"Joshua stop!" I was pulled out of my vision as Edward let out an angry growl and climbed from the water.

I tried to look again into Joshua's future to see what I had missed but I could see nothing.

**A/N – Keep reviewing guys, more reviews motivates me to write and you get faster updates.**


	10. Chapter 10

Emmett's Pov

I cringed as I watched Josh trip on the stone surrounding the pool. Edward's growl and shouting had caught him off guard. I let out a sigh as I smelled the blood from his skinned knees and hands. "Edward! You scared me" Josh glared out my telepathic brother who ignored him as he leapt the fence around the pool like it was a hurdle. His urgency made it clear that something was wrong. I looked at Rosalie for some sort of answer but she was as puzzled as I was.

"Alice, what did you see?" Jasper climbed out of the pool and moved towards her, his face looked troubled as if he was afraid. With Jasper it's difficult to tell if he was picking up his fear from someone else. I climbed from the pool effortlessly and hopped the fence joining Edward who seemed to listening to a silent conversation, his brows furrowed with anger and frustration.

I sniffed the air trying to see who or what had Edward's attention, I could only smell chlorine and Josh's blood. I heard three distinct set of feet landing in the grass behind me as Rosalie, Jasper and Alice prepared for whatever Edward and Alice seemed to know was going to happen. I wanted to ask what the hell was going on but their silence seemed deliberate.

I heard sudden movement between the trees in front of us. Edward and Jasper both instantly fell into crouches while a menacing growl escaped Rosalie's lips. My vision focused on a wild looking man attempting to hide behind a tree. His red eyes caught my attention. It only took one long leap for me to get on top of him. He was quick; the unpleasant sound of his fist hitting my hard chest actually hurt my ears. I pulled in an unnecessary breath as I got up from the dirt; I had stopped my breathing but now the smell of Josh's blood hit me hard.

He must have seen something on my face because his eyes darkened and he leapt towards the pool. His eyes were dark with the hunger for my little buddy's blood. I felt an enraged growl erupt from chest and leapt after him. The idea that this creature wanted to hurt Josh made me feel sick; I couldn't allow it to happen. I grabbed the vampire from behind and tossed him towards Esme's garden away from the pool.

"Bella! Josh! Stay back!" Edward shouted. I looked back fearing the worse. Bella and Josh were standing just outside the fence; Bella looked terrified, Josh just looked pissed. The vampire took advantage of my distraction and leapt towards the pool again. This guy was really starting to piss me off. I growled in annoyance and took off after him. I didn't want to tear him apart in front of Josh and Bella; they didn't need to see that sort of thing.

I tackled the deranged vampire and pinned him to the ground. He snapped and snarled as I held him down. _Yo Edward!_ I tried to get his attention; even after all of these years I still don't know exactly how to get his attention. It must have worked because he was soon at my side. Together we lifted the desperate vampire and ran him into the woods. Edward must have been following my thoughts closely because the moment we got far enough away that Bella and Josh couldn't see us we tore him apart.

"Josh no!" I heard Alice shout. I took off right behind Edward, his legs carrying him faster than mine could. Rosalie was dismembering one of the vampires with Jasper's assistance. We continued towards Josh and the pool. I watched as a male vampire tossed Alice off, he moved towards the pool. Josh and Bella stood behind the fence; Josh grabbed the pool skimmed that was resting on the fence and held it like a baseball bat. My legs slowed as fear set in.

Josh shut his eyes tightly and wildly swung it, he didn't seem to even be aiming for anything in particular. The vampire's blood lust seemed to dilute his sense as he leapt straight at Josh who caught him in the head with aluminum pool skimmer. It bent around his head the force that reverberated through the pool skimmer knocked Josh backwards. Josh's head gave an unpleasant knock against the stones as the pool skimmer clanged to the ground.

Edward's legs must not have slowed when mine did; he tackled the vampire whose hands were on Josh. He slammed him into the fence and held him down. Alice darted to Edward's side and helped him lift the vampire up. They carried him into the woods as he struggled against their holds. Jasper ran after them to assist. The sounds of struggling were silenced and I ran towards Josh. I looked him over quickly and felt relief hush over me as he sat up.

"Oww" he groaned as he rubbed at the back of his head.

"Are you alright?" I asked as I carefully moved my fingers to the spot of his head that he was rubbing. I felt another wave of relief as I felt a goose egg forming.

"I'm fine, Emmett" Josh rolled his eyes completely unshaken by the attack. "Mom's going to kill you guys for tearing up another fence" I tried to stifle my laugh as he pointed to the destroyed section of fence that Edward had thrown the last vampire into. He held his hand up and looked at me for a moment expectantly before I caught on and lifted him to his feet. He swayed a little bit and held on to my arm.

"Bella are you hurt anywhere?" Rosalie asked Bella, whose eyes were wide with fear still, as she looked her over for anything resembling an injury. Bella ignored her question and wrapped her arms around Rosalie's waist and hugged her. She remained stuck on Rose's hip until Edward returned from destroying the last vampire.

"And her garden too?" Josh's eyes widened as he looked at Esme's trashed garden, with all of the excitement he seemed disappointed for having missed parts of the fight. "She's going to ground you so bad Em" He chuckled to himself as he looked up at me.

**A/N - thanks for the reviews guys. Keep them up, they keep me motivated. **


	11. Chapter 11

Edward's Pov

_Aw man, she's going to make us close the pool. _ Josh gave a frustrated sigh as he looked at the damaged fence. I fought off a laugh knowing it would inappropriate; his thoughts had consistently been on how much trouble he was sure that we were going to be in. Josh had taken this attack very well but Bella had not. Never in my time with Bella have I wanted to read her mind more. She was terrified, that much was clear. Her arms were wrapped tightly around my waist and her head was buried in my bare stomach.

I sighed softly as I gently touched the side of her head; she was breathing heavily which led me to believe she was going to cry. I couldn't handle her crying. "Bella, Bella, we're fine. See? Fine." I lifted my arms to show her that I was in fact in one piece. She wasn't convinced.

_Here, Edward. _Rosalie walked over handing me a large fluffy towel. I gave her a thankful smile knowing Bella would be getting cold soon if she kept hugging me in her wet swimsuit.

"Bella, everything's fine now, I promise." Alice crouched down at Bella's side and put her hand on her shoulder. _Oh the poor thing. _

"Are you sure?" She turned her head and looked at Alice.

"One hundred percent" Alice smiled at her. I gave a relieved sigh as Bella's grasp loosened around my waist. Alice took the towel from my hands and wrapped it around Bella's shoulders. It hung to just a few inches off of the ground.

_Oh no. _My head snapped up as I heard Rosalie's voice in my head, the sound was followed by the sound of Josh doing a cannonball into the pool. Rose snapped into angry mother mode, it was something Esme couldn't pull off as well, for Rosalie it seemed second nature.

"Out of the pool." She stood at the edge of the water and glared at Josh.

_Uh oh. _His eyes widened as he came up for air. "What's wrong?" Josh raised one eyebrow as looked at Rosalie.

_What's wrong? You could have been killed, that is what's wrong._ She bit down on her bottom lip and sighed. "Josh, get out of the pool. Now." Rosalie's glare was enough to get Josh out of the water. She wrapped Josh in a towel similar to Bella's and started towards the house with him. Bella and Alice followed a moment later. _His head better be okay. _I heard Rosalie grumble from inside the house.

_Esme and Carlisle are going to be home in fifteen minutes. You guys should put some clothes on. _Alice's voice rang out in my head, she had gotten used to using my gift as an instant messaging device. I suggested a change of clothes to Emmett and Jasper and ran towards the house.

I closed the door to my room and opened up my closet, I took my time thumbing through my shirts as I listened to my siblings' thoughts throughout the house. Alice was taking frequent looks into Josh's future and was very pleased as she was able to see him again. Josh was dwelling on Bella, he was afraid that she would think we were monsters because of the vampires that had attacked us. Rosalie was poking and prodding the back of Josh's head, she wasn't convinced that it was just a swollen bruise. Six years ago Emmett's thoughts would have surprised me as he helped Alice get Bella some dry clothes to wear, he couldn't decide if she should have a long sleeve shirt or not.

I decided on a shirt and pulled on a pair of slacks. I walked down to Bella and Josh's room, smiling as I saw Bella had calmed down. I had expected her to be upset a while longer; I was impressed with how she was handling everything. Josh could get over anything in a matter of minutes.

I loved how different the twins had ended up being. There were only a few things that they both loved to do, reading was their big thing; they could spend an entire evening with Jasper in the library. Bella and I would spend hours at the piano on the weekends, during that time Josh was either outside causing some sort of trouble with Emmett or inside building Lego sets with Carlisle.

Josh loved to tell us about his day in great detail while Bella liked to write her thoughts in her journal. She liked having any privacy she could in a house of vampires. She would be furious if she ever found out Emmett read it on a nearly daily basis. Having read his thoughts multiple times on the subject, I knew he wasn't doing it completely out of nosiness; he was genuinely just trying to make sure she was happy. Jasper had found out about some kid in Bella's class was picking on her a few months ago because Emmett had read it in her journal. Jasper in turn tracked the kid down just to find out he had a crush on Bella. I hated the idea of some boy having a crush on Bella, even though it was just a harmless crush, the boys wouldn't always be harmless.

"Edward?" I felt Bella's warm hand grab my cold one. She could ask me anything and I knew I would say yes, I didn't even stand a chance. All she needed to do was look at me with those dark brown eyes. I was putty in her hands.

"Yes, Bella?" I leaned down closer to her height.

"Can we go play the piano?" She smiled sweetly at me.

"For a few minutes, Carlisle and Esme are going to be home soon" I gave a soft chuckle as she pulled me from her room leading me to the piano, clearly having gotten over the horrendous end to our leisurely day in the pool.

**A/N – I hope to age the twins slightly in the next chapter. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Keep reviewing and I'll keep typing. **


	12. Chapter 12

Jasper's Pov

"Mom? Have you seen my black polo shirt anywhere?" I felt myself smile as I heard Josh's voice crack as he hollered from his room. He and Bella had demanded their own rooms two summers ago when Josh finished up the fifth grade.

"Honey, did you check your hamper?" Esme called from the bottom of the stairs, her and Rose were trying to whip up some dinner before Josh and Bella went their middle school social. For some reason the school could play down the fact that it was a dance by calling it a social. Tonight's social was apparently special as it was the last one of the school year, our finals were starting next week and by next Friday would be free for the summer. Esme wasn't looking forward to the summer because both Josh and Bella had been accepted into a summer abroad program and would be spending two months going up and down the coast of Australia with a large group of other kids their age. They were leaving a week after school let out

"I looked there first, it's not on the floor either."

Alice chuckled and got up the comfortable embrace I hope my arms were providing. "It's in the bottom of his closet," she explained before walking briskly from the room. I grabbed my book from the nightstand and started to thumb through, it was difficult to really concentrate with all that was going on.

"I'm not wearing a sweatshirt Emmett!" I finally gave up trying to read when I heard Bella shouting. I got up from my spot on the bed and headed down the hallway to her room.

"Why not?" I opened Bella's door and laughed as I saw Emmett holding up an over sized hooded sweatshirt while Bella frantically pulled items from her closet. Alice had seen this happening of course and knew Bella would be soon asking for her help in deciding on an outfit. Until that moment arrived Alice was happy to bother Josh while he tried to get ready. I felt waves of frustration rolling off Bella and I suddenly felt the urge to smack Emmett and remove him from the room with force. I sent a few calming waves Bella's way, smiling to myself as her breathing and heart rate began to return to normal.

"What do you think Jazz?" She turned to me and held up a navy top with spaghetti straps. I felt a growl building in my chest but Emmett beat me to action and sprinted across the room at top speed to snatch the top out of Bella's hands. He returned to my side half a second later and I felt his anger towards any male that would appreciate that outfit on his baby sister. "Emmett!" Bella stomped her foot and glared at him before turning to me.

"What?" I raised my palms questioning her glare as I felt her anger that replaced her frustration.

"Aren't you going to help me?" Her eyebrows perked as she looked to me for help.

"Absolutely not, you're just lucky Edward's hunting or you'd leave wearing a wool sweater" Emmett clapped my back, pleased that I was agreeing with him.

"Hmphh" she gave an exaggerated roll of her eyes before turning back to her closet. Under normal circumstances I wouldn't be bothered at all by Bella going to this social but this time she was meeting up with some thirteen-year-old deviant at the dance. Sean was a friend of Josh's and very cute according to what Emmett read in her little journal/diary thing she kept, that alone was enough to make me despise the kid. I chuckled lowly to myself as Emmett lifted the box springs under Bella's bed and tossed the hardly appropriate top underneath before setting the box brings back down. I headed down the hallway to see how Josh had fared after finding his shirt.

Just as I got to his door it opened from the inside and Josh walked out, I struggled to suppress my smile as I took in his outfit. He was in a black polo shirt, khakis and a pair of wing tip shoes; if I hadn't known any better I'd of thought he was getting ready to go golfing. He flashed me a small smile, his braces shining in the light. Bella only required braces on her top teeth to correct a few misaligned teeth but Josh had some form of metal on just about every tooth he had. Their orthodontist hoped he would be out of the metal work by the time he reached high school but that didn't look like it was going to happen. "Is Mom done with dinner?" I fought off the urge to laugh again as his voice cracked slightly.

"Sounds like it" I offered and walked downstairs with him. He was feeling oddly confident, it was rolling off of him in waves. By the smile on his face I knew something must be up but because Edward was gone, I'd have to wait until Alice saw something until I could find out what was going on. Josh headed straight for the kitchen, grinning as he saw the turkey burgers Rosalie and Seem had made. Turkey burgers for them was a compromise, Josh wanted nothing but fast food, while Rose and Esme wanted him to eat healthy food. We were all sort of blown away by how much Josh was eating; he could easily eat twice what Bella did in a day during a single meal. Whenever him and his little friends came by the house after soccer they would eat just about everything we had in the pantry, poor Esme was having to go grocery shopping multiple times a week now.

I watched almost in awe while Josh downed three of the average sized turkey burgers and finished off a plate of some all natural potato chips. By the time he was finished Bella was finally downstairs, with Alice's help she had decided on a nice looking light pink polo shirt and had her hair up in a ponytail. It was conservative enough for my tastes and Bella looked pleased, Alice loved having Bella to dress up. Josh had finally seemed to be growing out of what Alice called his disgusting boy phase but Bella always, often reluctantly, but always never the less, allowed Alice to pick out her outfits.

"Took you long enough, come on let's go" Josh got up from the table and took his dishes and glass straight to the dishwasher. I could feel his sudden anticipation; whatever was supposed to be happening at this social was starting to make him nervous. I wanted to know what was going on but had to think twice about asking as I remember Rose and Esme were still in the room. The last time he had been at a social he had been written up for having a "public display of affection" with some girl in his class. He was embarrassed about it and wouldn't elaborate more than that but according to Alice and Bella all they had been doing was slow dancing. I had a feeling that whatever it was this time was bigger than that.

"Oh shut up, Josh" Bella shot him an annoyed glare and grabbed her burger. Josh groaned and watched as Bella dramatically enjoyed her burger, it wasn't really the burger she enjoyed but the anxiety she was able to cause Josh. Ten longs minutes later they were in the car with Esme on the way to their dance.

**A/N the next chapter will be split between Josh and Bella's Pov. Review and I'll update sooner. **


	13. Chapter 13

Josh's Pov

"Shotgun" I gave Bella a toothy grin as I opened the side door to the garage. Our shotgun rule was that you had to be in sight of the car and since Bella's only speed was turtle slow it wasn't much of a competition. Whatever, she must have gotten used to riding in the back by now.

"Loser" She rolled her eyes at me as if she wasn't bothered at all. "You do know that just because you're in the front seat you won't actually get there faster." I returned her eye roll. She knew she was just as excited as I was; it was her first dance with an actual date. She normally just went and hung out with those crazy girls she had for friends, she had danced with guys before but actually going with a guy was different.

I momentarily racked my brain for a retort that wouldn't embarrass her; I settled with simply mocking her tone and repeated "blah" as I opened the car door for her. It wasn't the most mature thing or witty thing I could come up with but I wasn't about to mention Sean because I don't think anyone knew about him yet, well actually, Alice probably knew already. Her gift was really starting to bug me; she knew every little thing about me.

I was actually really surprised Mom had decided to let me go to the dance at all. About two weeks ago Alice had seen Matt and I testing the differences between a diet coke and Mento's rocket and a baking soda and peroxide equivalence. I'm not sure if Mom knew about it already but it certainly didn't help my cause that I told her it had started as a science experiment.

"Seat belt" I blushed slightly as my mom's voice brought me out of my thoughts. Twenty slightly painful minutes later we were walking into the gym. Mom had spent the entire ride to the school making sure I understood that she didn't want to hear about me getting written up again for a PDA. It took a tone of self control not to just blurt out something about Sean but I couldn't throw her to the wolves like that, or over protective vampires in our case. Mom spent well over five minutes explaining to us where she would be parking so we could find her after the dance ended. I didn't know how she was going to manage not seeing us all summer.

Even with Mom's slightly ridiculous enforcement of the potential location of our car we were about 10 minutes early. Because I was in Student Council we were allowed to enter the school immediately. Due to the fact that basically no one was there yet we headed to the cafeteria where other student council members were selling snacks and pizza. I had managed to weasel out of having a shift by sweet talking the goofy sixth grader who was responsible for the snack stand. Apparently she thought I was cute.

"Yo! Can I get a butterfinger?" I walked up to the snack stand smiling as I saw a friend of mine sitting behind the table.

"I'm so telling Rose" Bella threatened as she walked to my side.

"Make it two butterfingers" I handed my friend another dollar.

"I thought so." Bella cracked a smile, she knew both of us would regret it if Rose found out how much junk food we actually managed to eat. Rose was great but honestly if she tried to get Esme to put vegan chocolate in my cookies one more time I was going to throw something at her.

"So where's Sean?" Bella asked as she dug into her candy bar.

"What? See Bella, guys don't keep tabs on each other or tell each other every detail of their lives." I paused for a short moment to get a breath but not long enough to let Bella reply. "Speaking of every detail of each other's lives, where's Andrea?"

"You don't even try to be subtle about it do you?" Bella had long gotten over acting surprised with my bluntness.

"Not at all" I knew full well my mouth would eventually get me into trouble but until that day came I was going to use my dimples and hair to charm the socks of just about every person I met. I learned last summer at soccer camp that girls really like dimples on a guy, apparently the soft curly hair didn't hurt either. Turns out you can get away with almost anything if you just flash a girl the dimples, my dimples gifts didn't just affect girls my age either, the secretary at the office will sign a tardy slip without even looking at it if I just smiled at her.

"Her mom is bringing her, she should be here soon"

"Thank you Bells" I gave her an appreciative smile and chomped into my candy bar. "So have you started getting anything together for Australia?"

"Jasper took me to Best Buy to get some memory cards for the cameras."

"Yeah, Mom took me with her the other night to buy new cell phones that will work internationally." Bella rolled her eyes again and gave a laugh. "Like the two dozen phone cards aren't enough." Bella was almost as excited about the trip as I was. A few kids from my 8th grade geography class combined with a few people from Bella's grade were all coming with us for the summer. Another school from the area was going as well. Bella wanted to see Australia; I wanted to see Australia with Andrea.

"Sean told me that his dad was dropping him off out front but not until the traffic clears" Bella's eyes widened, clearly surprised that I knew what I did.

"Really?"

"Really, have fun tonight Bells." I purposely messed up her hair as I rubbed the top of her head before moving away from her hand as she swatted at me. I gave an audible laugh before walking off to the gym to find Andrea.

**A/N So turns out I liked writing Josh's Pov a lot. I promise in the next chapter we'll hear from Bella's Pov. Keep up the reviews, I hope to update by tomorrow night. **


	14. Chapter 14

"Hey Bella, do you know where your brother is?" I looked towards the direction of the voice, it was Andrea.

"Oh hey Drea, you just missed him. I think he went to the gym." I actually really liked Andrea, she was a sweet girl and Josh liked her, my only real complaint was how incredibly stupid she was. I don't know if it came with being a cheerleader but it was kind of hilarious. Emmett thought she was absolutely hysterical. One day a few weeks ago she was over at the house working on some paper and Josh had mentioned that he was going to be getting his hair cut, she honestly replied with "You're getting it cut shorter?"

"Oh darn" she frowned for a moment before giving me a smile "You look nice Bella" I felt my cheeks start to flush, I was really nervous about tonight. Sean was going to be here anytime.

"Thanks" I smiled back. Sean was the eighth grade with Josh and Drea; he was also on Josh's soccer team. He was in my French class this year as well, I was one of the only seventh graders in a language class and with Edward and Alice's help I was the top student in the class.

"I think I saw his Dad's car in the parking lot when my Mom was dropping me off. " I gave Drea an appreciative smile. "I'll see you later alright?" She flashed me another smile before turning and walking off to find my brother. I finished eating my Butterfinger and dabbed my face with a napkin to make sure there was no remaining mess. After ensuring that there was in fact no chocolate on my face I left the cafeteria and headed towards the front door.

"Bella?" I felt butterflies in my stomach as I saw Sean. His sandy blonde hair was slightly gelled and parted on the side; he also had on a red polo shirt and a pair of sandy beige khakis. He was a few inches taller than Josh was, mainly because he was a year older; both of them would be starting high school next year.

"Hey" I blushed as I smiled at him. He finished paying his way into the dance and walked over to me.

"Sorry for being late, my dad hates having to push through the traffic at these things"

"Its fine" I felt even more nervous than I did before, normally at dances I hung out with my friends, I would occasionally dance with a guy but I never spent the whole night with anyone as a date before.

"Do you want to go to the gym?" Sean suggested and started to look a little bashful. It eased my worries seeing how nervous he was as well.

"Sure" I nodded and Sean opened one of the double doors into the gym, holding it for me to walk through. The DJ was playing some old nineties pop some while people stood awkwardly around the gym floor. No one really danced during these things except for during the slow songs.

I quickly realized I had no reason to be nervous. Sean was a really easy going guy; we spend most of the night sitting on the bleachers on the opposite side of the gym away from the speakers just talking. We talked about a lot but our main subject of discussion was our summers. He was going to spend the summer in South Carolina with his family at their time share. We also talked about our classes, Sean wasn't nearly as good at French as I was but he was far from bad at it. He was second in their class based on grades, Josh was first of course. Second was respectable though, Josh has yet to get anything less than an A ever so it was pretty much impossible to beat him.

The dance really seemed to fly by because soon it was five minutes until ten and our parents would soon be showing up. I hadn't seen Josh since the dance began but I knew him well enough to know he was either off with Matt and a few of their other friends causing some sort of trouble or he was with Drea doing something that would probably result in having to have a very awkward talk with Mom and Dad. The school really let Josh slide with his behavior most kids who acted like Josh did would have received at least one detention by this point, earlier this year at a dance a teacher had to confiscate a laser pointer that Emmett had given him to "mess with people" in the dark gym.

I heard the DJ announce that this was the final song of the night, I felt a little disappointed as we had only danced to a few songs. "Do you want to dance?" Sean must have seen my disappointment because he was soon on his feet; he looked at me timidly for a moment before reaching and taking my hand and leading me down from the bleachers.

Some slow Aerosmith song was playing as people began to pair up around the basketball court floor. I looped my arms around Sean's neck and he gently rested his on my hips. Everyone in my family with the exception of Josh would laugh horribly at the idea of calling this dancing. We swayed in place until the song finished and the lights turned on.

"So um Bella, my mom suggested going to see a movie tomorrow, would you like to come with me?" Sean asked as we parted from our pseudo dancing.

"That sounds fun, I'll have to talk to my parents about it" I blushed as Sean smiled again.

"We could get Josh and Drea to come, make it like a group thing" He suggested knowing that my brothers probably wouldn't like the idea of going on a movie date alone.

"Yeah, I'll ask my mom tonight" I looked to the clock on the wall knowing that if I wait too long Mom will come in looking.

"I'll call you tomorrow then" Sean surprised me as he gave me a quick kiss on the lips. "Good night Bella" He smiled at me as I'm sure I was blushing.

"Bye" I stammered out stupidly and watched as he exited the gym. I looked around seeing that most of the crowd had dispersed, I let out a long sigh and walked out of the gym and to the parking lot.

"Hey sweetie, how was it?" Mom pounced the moment I opened the car door.

"It was good" I smiled and climbed into the front seat, she planted a kiss on my cheek before I could even get my seatbelt on.

"That's great" She smiled at me "Where is your brother?"

"He'll be out soon" I gave my mom a convincing smile but in reality I had no idea. Mom asked me just about every possible thing she could about Sean while we waited for Josh. A few minutes passed before the back door to the car opened up and Josh climbed in grinning. I couldn't help but laugh as I saw how red and chapped his lips were, I don't know why he chose to ignore my warning he was going to end up inspiring Mom and Dad to give him the sex talk.

**A/N – Hope you guys liked it. Keep reviewing and I'll keep writing. **


	15. Chapter 15

Josh's Pov

I slid into the back seat and buckled my seatbelt immediately. I had pushed my luck a little by taking my time and I knew it. All I needed was my mom to come into the gym looking for me just to see me sneaking out from underneath the bleachers with Andrea. I couldn't help but grin though, tonight had been pretty awesome. I knew I should be more discreet or Mom was going to start asking me how my evening was.

"About time" Bella said lowly flashing me a quick smile in the side mirror. I gave her a quick smile back and silently pleaded that she wouldn't try to get me into trouble.

"Be nice to you brother" I struggled to swallow a chuckle as Mom lightly scolded her. The ride back to the house was a quick one, Mom normally drove really close to the speed limit but tonight she was a good ten to fifteen over. I stared out the window watching the trees light up along the side of the road while we went by. "So honey how was the dance?"

"Um" I thought about my answer for a half a second before an unabashed smile cracked my face. "It was good." I laughed once to myself and leaned back against the chair.

"That's great" I watched as Mom looked at me a few times in the mirror each time she looked as if she was going to say something else but never did. We were soon pulling into the garage. The moment the car was in park I climbed out and headed upstairs.

"Hey, Josh. Want to come upstairs and talk to me for a moment?" Alice bounced as she climbed off the couch and hurried over to me. I couldn't read her expression, she looked excited but there was something else too.

"Can we wait like 20 minutes? I need to use the phone." I promised Andrea that I would call her the minute I got home. She hated calling here because I was rarely the first person who got to a phone and I only trusted Mom Dad and Edward to answer the phone.

"Nope, we gotta talk now" I sighed as Alice shook her head quickly. "Come on" She tugged on my arm but I stood my ground, I had made a promise to Andrea.

"You know, I'm bigger than you now Alice." I pointed out, having a good four inches on her, and flashed quick smile. I heard Rosalie's laughter ringing out like bells while she and Emmett watched us from the couch.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" the sound of Alice's heel tapping the floor filled the room while she looked at me.

"That I don't have to always come with you when you tell me" I gave her a smug smile and heard Emmett laughing.

"We'll see about that" Alice bent down slightly and quickly grabbed my legs before swinging me over her shoulder. In just a matter of seconds we were upstairs and she was sitting me down on my bed.

"Jeez, Alice, I was just messing with ya" I was a little worried that she was actually angry or offended. I never fought with anyone besides Bella and we didn't fight that often at all. Alice smiled at me and eased my tensions. She moved at vampire speed and flipped on my stereo. It was a trick Bella and I had started to get a little privacy from the heightened hearing of my family. "What's going on?" Her behavior was making me a little nervous, Alice normally didn't do secrets.

"How was your night Josh?" She flashed me a knowing smile.

"Good…how much did you see?"

"Enough" Alice chirped before giggling.

"Does Mom know?" I started feeling extremely anxious.

"No, but you need to stop being so cavalier Josh" She lightly smacked my arm. "When Esme saw you after the dance she decided that she and Carlisle should have the talk with you."

"The talk?" I was feeling uncomfortable already. Don't get me wrong, I love my parents but I did not want to hear them talk to me about sex.

"Yeah, well it didn't help that you looked like you had either just eaten a cherry Popsicle or spent the night making out with your girlfriend under the bleachers." She had a point.

"The talk's going to be pretty bad then? Have you seen it?"

"It will be very uncomfortable for all three of you" I sighed as she started messing with my hair. Alice really liked my curls; she was the main reason my hair was as long as it was. I was blessed with rare non frizzing curls; they always just hung loosely around my head. Alice was as bad as most of the girls at school, she liked to pull down on the curls and watch them bounce up; it amused her to no end. "Don't worry, I'm going to try to talk them out of it, but please be a little more careful?

"Thanks Alice" I gave her a quick hug, there were times she annoyed me but she was a great older sister.

"Okay, okay. You're welcome. Now go call Andrea, Bella is in the process of convincing Mom and Dad to let, You and Bella spend the day with Andrea and Sean" Alice patted the top of my head as we parted from our hug. Alice danced her way out of my room and went downstairs. I spent only about ten minutes on the phone with Andrea before I put on some linen pajama bottoms and a t-shirt. After changing I headed downstairs to join Emmett and Jasper for some video games.

"Ready to get your butt kicked?" Emmett grinned at me as I plopped down on the couch next to him and in front of the TV.

"Quiet you, Mario Kart is my game" I jabbed Emmett with my elbow playfully.

"Ha! You wish" Jasper chimed in and reached forward flipping the system on. I knew we'd play be able to play for an hour and a half or so before Mom made me go to bed, I couldn't complain though most of the kids my age had much earlier bedtimes.

**A/N – Thanks for the reviews guys keep it up. Hopefully in the next chapter Josh and Bella will be heading to Australia. **


	16. Chapter 16

Edward's Pov

_He should be up by now, it's nearly 11:30, I hope nothing's wrong. _Esme walked towards the stairs at a human pace stopping on the first step. _Carlisle says to let him sleep, teenagers need to sleep "he's a growing boy" _I gave a soft laugh as Esme mocked Carlisle in her thoughts. For a Saturday I didn't think 11:30 was that bad, the last time Carlisle and Esme had gone away for a weekend Josh had slept until 2. _He is going to completely miss breakfast; it's almost lunch time already. _Esme let out a soft sigh and started back towards the kitchen.

"Mom, why don't you just go and wake his lazy butt up?" Bella shifted in her position on the couch, she could read Esme as well as any of us could. I had a large pillow in my lap that Bella was resting her head on while she watched the television. Alice and Jasper had gone hunting early this morning so Bella was still in her pajamas; it was a luxury that she wasn't afforded often. "I'll do it if you want me to" Bella grinned at Esme. Bella, Alice and Rosalie had all given up trying to gently wake Josh up in the morning, or after noon in some cases, all three now resorted to pulling his comforter off in one quick motion, normally leaving Josh shirtless in his pajama bottoms. "He needs to get up anyway."

"Can I do it?" Emmett looked to Esme from his spot on the floor at Rosalie's feet. _Last time was just so damn funny. _Emmett grinned to himself as he remembered his last time waking Josh up just a few weeks ago. Josh had told him to "get bent", which is something Emmett had taught him, when he told him he needed to get up to go get his haircut with Alice and Rose. After the short exchange Josh buried his head into the pillow; Emmett responded by lifting the bed up and causing Josh to tumble into the floor.

"No, no Emmett, you just leave him be" Esme motioned quickly for Emmett to stay seated. _The last time I let him do that Josh smacked his head off the floor, I swear he hits his head so frequently that his IQ is just going to plummet._ Esme shook her head at her thoughts and sighed. _Hopefully he'll have already gotten into a good school by then. _I couldn't stop myself from laughing and Esme flashed me a quick slightly embarrassed smile. Esme returned to the kitchen to check on the cookies she had baking in the oven. I couldn't understand the appeal of them as they smelled quite disgusting to me but Josh and Bella loved them and frequently fought over the last one.

"So Bella what are your plans for today?" I asked as I pushed a few stray strands of hair out off of her forehead. Bella's face melted into a smile and I felt myself smiling back. I hated not being able to hear her thoughts; I could hear every other insignificant human's thoughts but could hear nothing from the one that meant the most to me. I felt slightly guilty for considering Bella to mean more, it wasn't that I didn't love Josh, I did but Bella was different. What Bella and I had was special.

"Sean and I are going to see a movie with Josh and Drea, I think we might be making a day out of it" I felt a pang of jealousy deep inside my chest when Bella talked about Sean. Thirteen was far too young in my mind to be dating boys. I actually didn't mind Sean that bad; from what I've seen and heard from him, he seemed like a good kid. Good kid or no good kid, I'd still rip his arms off if he ever stepped out of line with Bella.

"Oh yeah? That sounds fun" I forced a believable smile and turned my attention back to the TV. We watched some slightly witty sitcom for another fifteen minutes before I could hear Josh waking up on his own.

"About time" Rosalie commented as she heard the thuds and bumps that accompanied Josh for normally a good twenty minutes after he first wakes up._ What on earth is he doing up there? It's like he's moving furniture… _Unlike Bella, Josh wasn't clumsy necessarily; he was, as Carlisle put it, unobservant. Bella ran into things and normally fell; Josh just bounced off of anything in his way. The ruckus upstairs continued for another minute before he finally made his way downstairs.

_Mmm cookies, that's nice. _Josh smelled the air and lazily wiped the sleep from his eyes while he assessed the seating situation briefly. "Bella move over" he croaked out his throat dry from being asleep for nearly 12 hours.

"No, there's room on the floor" Bella shook her head quickly.

"Fine"It was clear Josh wasn't quite all there as his mind was nearly silent. _Fine_. Josh looked at Bella for a moment before plopping down on top of hr tiredly.

"Ugh! Get up you idiot!" Bella attempted to sit upright while Josh lay on top of her like she was a body pillow. After half heartedly swatting at him for a minute Josh got up and Bella moved her legs so he could sit down. Esme sometimes worried about their fighting and bickering but compared to how most siblings behaved, their squabbles were minimal. Esme was soon done with their lunch and called them into the kitchen to eat.

_Not too shabby. _Josh smiled to himself as he eyed the sandwiches on the table; he quickly noticed that Esme hadn't gotten plates out for them yet. _Alright come on, here's your chance buddy. _His thoughts amused me as he gave himself a brief pep talk. His smile grew and he went to the cabinet retrieving two plates.

"Oh thank you sweetie" Esme smiled at him and looked in on the cookies, afraid that they would overcook. _He's always so polite._

_Okay, awesome, she's in a good mood_. "No problem Mom"_ Careful now, not too obvious. It should really be her idea after how poorly it went last time. _He opened his mouth like he was going to say something more but stopped himself. He forced his eyes downwards to the floor before repeating the action.

"What's on your mind Josh?" Esme gently lifted Josh's chin to get him to look at her.

"It's…nothing" Josh sighed, his voice sounding discouraged.

"Nonsense, what's wrong"

"Well I was just wondering if they guys could spend the night tonight, I'm not going to be able to see them all summer" He drew out the word all to drive home his point.

_A sleepover? I don't know about that. _A subtle from formed on Esme's lips as she remembered the last time about half a dozen or so of those little delinquents spent the night. How six boys had managed to eat four pizzas by themselves I'll never know. Josh's friends were a little rambunctious, they never slept and whichever room they were in always ended up a mess. "This will be the last one of the school year right?" Esme finally replied.

"Absolutely." Josh nodded instantly. _Success! _His voice cheered for a moment in his head and a smile plastered itself on his face.

"Okay then that sounds fine."

"Thanks Mom" Josh leaned over and planted a kiss on her cheek quickly before sitting down at the table and grabbing a sandwich.

"Are you going to invite Sean?" Bella poked Josh's arm lightly with her finger.

"You'd like that wouldn't you?" Josh smirked. _Like hell, he's not sleeping in the house while you're dating him. _My sentiments exactly, he shot me a glare when I let out a laugh.

"Don't be a jerk Josh" Bella pushed his shoulder angrily.

"Don't be a jerk Bella" He mimicked back after debating for a moment in his head whether or not he should push his luck, he thought Bella was going to tell Esme something about him and Andrea. Bella glared at him for a moment before reaching over and grabbing his ear, it was a dirty little trick she had picked up from Rosalie. "OW," _holy hell woman. _"Fine, fine I'll invite Sean"

"Thank you" Bella finally released his now reddening ear and took another bite out of her sandwich.

**A/N Okay so clearly not Australia yet, I'm switching things up a bit. Keep reviewing and I'll keep writing. **


	17. Chapter 17

Jasper's Pov

What was supposed to be a great weekend with my wife at a new hunting ground she had found took a drastic turn the moment Esme had decided to let Josh have a sleepover. It was bad enough that Bella was out on some PG double date with Sean, Josh and Andrea but now Sean was going to be staying the night. He was going to keep his ass in line; I'd sit in front of Bella's door all night if I had to. I groaned as I opened the front door, Edward was at his piano; it was easy to tell by the manner in which we was playing that he wasn't happy.

When Alice had her vision of the sleepover our hunt ended abruptly and we had to go back to the car. She was now meeting Esme and Rosalie at the grocery store, the last time Josh's friends were over they had raided the pantry at three in the morning after having finished off four pizzas just a few hours earlier. It blew my mind how much 7 thirteen year olds could eat.

I quickly inventoried my family; Carlisle was working the weekend shift and wouldn't be home until later tonight. "Emmett?" I called out over Edward's piano playing; I normally would have been able to hear him wherever he was but Edward was really going at it.

"Kitchen" Emmett boomed out. I walked into the kitchen laughing as I saw Emmett leaning against the kitchen counter flipping through one of Bella's People magazines. I could feel his embarrassment as he quickly closed it and pushed it a few inches away.

"So, Alice tells me we are hosting a half dozen morons and Bella's little deviant tonight" I decided not to rag on him too badly about the magazine; more than once I had paged through her copies of Teen Vogue when my curiosity got the best of me.

"Yeah, they're going to be here around seven. Josh and Bella should be back soon." Emmett stuffed his hands into his jean pockets and sighed. "That little punk Matt is spending the night" Emmett visibly tensed as he spoke Matt's name and I could feel his agitation. Matt was one of Josh's best friends and had an enormous crush on Rosalie.

"I've met that kid's parents, I really don't think they'll mind if you have him as a snack" I joked. I was a little surprised by myself and my light hearted attitude to our darker instincts but it had been ten years since my control has been an issue. Things changed a lot for me when Bella and Josh joined our family; humans weren't just a tempting food source anymore.

"If only that were true" Emmett grinned at my joke. We continued to chat for a few minutes before we heard a car coming up the driveway. Emmett and I waited inside trying to avoid having to speak to Andrea's mother, who honestly was one of the most airheaded persons I have ever met; she made her daughter look like Einstein. She must have been in a hurry because only Josh and Bella exited the navy suburban. Edward must have heard them as well because before they even entered the house his playing had returned to a standard decibel level.

"Hey Jazz, what are you doing here?" Josh asked as he walked into the kitchen, his good mood was radiating off of him like a form of heat.

"Alice saw your sleepover and wanted to come home" I explained.

"Oh, I'm sorry that sucks." He gave me an apologetic look and opened up the fridge. "Who's here?"

"Just Emmett, Edward and I are, why?" he shrugged and started looking through the contents of the refrigerator.

"How are you still hungry? You had well over a dozen wings at dinner" Bella shot Josh a disapproving glare that he ignored completely.

"Speaking of Buffalo wings, holy cow man, I have been missing the boat on those" Josh gave Emmett a quick smile. Alice had seen Josh starting what she said would be massive growth spurt this summer, he didn't know that yet though, we didn't want to get his hopes up incase it came later than Alice thought it would. Part of me expected him just to sprout six inches overnight because of his recent eating habits. Josh looked over his shoulder watching Bella uncover a small plate of cookies that had been left there. "Oh sweet there are cookies left" Josh closed the door to the fridge and made a b-line for the counter.

"No back off, they're mine" Bella said quickly and pulled the plate from Josh's reach but not before he snatched one of the three cookies.

"Fat chance" Josh rolled his eyes. I felt Bella's frustration as she stuffed one cookie into her mouth and used her body to shield the last cookie left from her brother. By the time my gaze traveled back to Josh the cookie he had stolen was already gone leaving only a few crumbs on his lips. He took a step back, feigning defeat he watched as Bella relaxed her shoulders and picked up the last cookie. He watched as she brought it up to her mouth and moved quickly swatting it away. The cookie hit the counter and broke.

"Josh!" Bella shrieked and I could feel her annoyance.

"Ha" Josh laughed and snatched the cookie off the table. He stuffed one half into his mouth and chomped it down. He stepped away from the counter and held up the other half, taunting Bella.

"Hey come on you two, knock it off" Emmett sighed but didn't really intervene; I could tell he was amused by their fight. I sent Bella a wave of calm but it didn't seem to help at all.

"I'm going to kill you, jerk" Bella glared Josh, her patience having worn thin.

"Maybe if you're nice I'll let you have the last half" he waved the cookie at her as he moved towards the doorway. He was enjoying their little back and forth, for him picking on Bella was a ton of fun, except for when she lost her temper, which I could tell was about to happen any second.

"Give me the rest of cookie Josh" Bella demanded and held her hand out.

"What cookie? This cookie?" He flashed her a smug grin and raised it up slightly above his head before opening his mouth. He started to lower the cookie to his mouth; I could feel Bella lose it. Having received tips from Emmett, Bella dropped her shoulders as she ran at Josh and tackled him. He gave a humor filled laugh as she slammed into him; she wasn't big or strong enough to really hurt him. She could knock him over though.

"Oh come on," Emmett's eyes widened as he realized what was about to happen. With the stovetop island counter in our way we couldn't really stop them from falling. Josh fell at an awkward angle and the back of his head slammed off the molded doorway. His head gave a whack off the wood. Always graceful, Bella landed on top of him. I could smell blood immediately.

"Damn Bella!" Josh sat up grimacing, I expected him to be furious but he started laughing. "Nice take down." Josh gingerly reached up touching the back of his head, his fingers becoming covered in blood.

"Oh gosh, are you okay?" Bella got to her knees and started to frantically feel through his curls looking for what I'm sure was a decent sized gash.

"Bella stop, I don't need you fainting" Emmett reached down, picked Bella up and walked her into the living room away from the smell of blood. I was very thankful that I had just hunted; Josh always bled a ton when he had a head wound.

"What happened?" Edward appeared as if out of nowhere.

"Bella kicked his ass" Emmett laughed from the living room.

"He deserved it" Bella chimed in.

"Are you okay?" Edward asked Josh quickly, his eyes barely darker than usual.

"She didn't kick my ass" Josh frowned as Edward helped him to his feet.

"He's going to need stitches" Edward looked over the wound. As if on cue my cell began to play Alice's ringtone. I pulled out my phone and flipped it open, not needing it to be near my ear for me to hear it.

"They weren't even home five minutes, how could you guys not even make five minutes Jasper?" She didn't even bother sounding angry.

"How was I supposed to know she would tackle him over a cookie? You'd think we never feed them."

"Carlisle will be waiting for you at the hospital, he needs a dozen stitches. We'll be home before you will" I smiled; I loved being married to my own little personal 411.

"Does that mean no sleepover?" I asked hopefully.

"Nope, everyone will still be here at seven"

"Damn, okay well I'll see you later than, love you"

"Love you too" I shut the phone and put it back into my pocket.

"Alright come on loser" I walked with Josh out to the car deciding Edward's Volvo would do better with any blood than the Jeep. "You really have to get better at planting your feet; you just got leveled by a girl that doesn't even weigh a hundred pounds" Josh rolled his eyes, "A girl that doesn't even weigh a hundred pounds" I emphasized while I grinned at him.

**A/N – Hey guys thanks for all the reviews, they really motivate me to write. Hope you enjoyed the new chapter, the next chapter will be the sleepover. **


	18. Chapter 18

Esme's Pov

"I don't like having that Matt kid in the house" Emmett griped as he grabbed the remote away from Rosalie.

"Oh will you relax, it's not like you have anything to worry about" I smiled as Rosalie took her husband's hand and brought it to her mouth, affectionately kissing the back of his hand. Rosalie wouldn't admit it but she liked it when Josh's friend Matt came over. For a recently fourteen year old boy Matt had considerable amount of gumption. He had no problem openly ogling Rosalie; a few weeks ago Rosalie had been working on one of the cars when he and Josh got home. Matt stood and watched her for five minutes with his mouth open until Josh pulled him away.

"Ya know, Jasper pointed out to me earlier that his parents probably wouldn't miss him" Emmett smiled suggestively.

"Emmett!" I would have scolded him more but I could hear two cars coming up the driveway, Josh, Jasper and Carlisle were home. I could hear Bella groaning from upstairs, she had made the mistake of asking Alice to help her with her hair. She wanted to look nice because Sean was coming over.

I could hear Carlisle and Josh talking while they made their way up the walkway. "I want you to stop provoking your sister like that, you know better than to be acting like that." I found myself as they started a similar conversation to one that I had with Bella once we got home from the grocery store. I hated it when they fought, I couldn't understand how they could go from goofing around and laughing one moment and tackling each other the next. I couldn't believe Jasper and Emmett let things get that far, they never wanted to interfere because they thought it was funny.

"Let me remind you that Bella tackled me" Josh drug his feet as he tried to excuse his behavior.

"After you did what?" Carlisle wasn't going let him slide on this.

"Yeah, alright" Josh sighed. "I'm sorry."

"Don't tell me, tell your sister" Josh grumbled but I knew he was glad he wasn't in any actual trouble. I smiled as the front door opened and Carlisle walked in with his arm on Josh's shoulder, Jasper was standing behind them.

"Hey Mom, guess who can't go to sleep tonight because they have a concussion." Oh no, Alice didn't mention that part. I got up from the arm chair I had settled into and walked over to Josh.

"It's just a precaution dear, he's fine" Carlisle's assurances weren't enough.

"How are you feeling sweetheart?" I looked Josh over trying to ease my concerns. With the exceptions of the dilated eyes and neatly tied off stitches on the back of his head he seemed fine. I took in the lazy smile forming on his face.

"I'm good Mom, really…good" his smile grew as he looked back at me. Something was off.

"It's just a pain killer, he's fine. It'll be out of his system in a few hours."

"His friends are going to be here in twenty minutes Carlisle!" Alice was going to be in so much trouble, she must have seen this yet she still convinced me to let him have his sleepover anyway.

"Dad can I go take a shower? There is blood in my hair" I sighed softly, I had barely noticed, between Josh and Bella, the smell of blood was common place in our home.

"Yes, just be careful, you might get dizzy."

"Can do" Josh started walking to the stairs. His foot snagged on the carpet and chuckled to himself as he started to fall. I hurried towards him but Rosalie beat me to him. She couldn't hide her smile as she prevented him from hitting the floor. "Whoa" Great, not only did Josh have a concussion, he was stoned on whatever pain killer Carlisle gave him and his friends were still coming over to spend the night.

"Come on goof ball" Rosalie leaned forward and hoisted Josh on to her shoulder, unlike Bella he refused to climb on anyone's back.

"Unhand me! I'm fine" Josh's voice cracked as he tried to climb down. Emmett loved giving Josh a hard time because he was going through puberty.

"Sure you are" Rosalie rolled her eyes and started slowly up the stairs.

"You know the only reason you can do this is because I let you" Josh chirped out indignantly.

"Will you stop squirming?"

"Ow! I'm injured remember, be gentle!" I heard Rosalie's beautiful laugh.

"I thought you were fine"

"Whatever" Josh gave a huff and headed into the bathroom.

I couldn't believe they were dating already. With Josh it didn't really surprise me, I honestly think he was born flirting; I'll never forget his second grade teacher calling me at home to explain that he had kissed a girl in his class during recess. It was bad enough that they were spending they entire summer in Australia but now Josh was spending more than half of his free time with Andrea, the little boy who once got excited over a night in playing board games had grown up a lot.

With Bella it was different though, she was still my little girl. She liked getting up and watching cartoons with Emmett and spending an entire afternoon playing Risk with Jasper and Edward. She was supposed to be spending Saturdays in her pajamas not locking lips with some boy. I knew it was only a matter of time before she entered a serious relationship; she was too special for the boys not to notice.

Bella soon made her way downstairs, she looked beautiful. She always looked beautiful but it was obvious she was trying to impress Sean, something she would most definitely achieve. "So Alice, when is everyone getting here?" Bella walked over to the couch and plopped down next to Edward. Their relationship was slowly changing and both of them were oblivious to that fact.

"Soon" Alice grinned.

"Relax Bella" Jasper smiled smugly to himself.

"Why does Bella need to relax?" I looked up seeing Josh standing on the landing halfway down the stairs in a pair of sweatpants and a polo shirt.

"Sean" Emmett answered; I heard the thud of Bella smacking him for his reply.

"Ah" Josh continued down the stairs, I scooted over against Carlisle to make sure Josh had room and smiled. He sank into the couch and rested his head on my shoulder. A few minutes passed before I could hear a car coming up the driveway, the first of Josh's friends were here.

"Which one is it?" Emmett looked to Alice.

"Sean" Alice responded with an enormous grin. I looked to Bella as she started to flush nervously. There was soon a knock at the door, Carlisle and I got up to answer the door. Sean was standing on the other side with a camping bag strapped to his back.

"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Cullen" Sean smiled nervously.

Hey Sean, did you have fun at the movie?" I asked trying to make him a little more comfortable. I didn't want him getting too comfortable but he shouldn't look at us like he was facing the firing squad.

"Yes mam" I cringed at the word, it made me seem old. I was old but I didn't look it and I didn't want Bella's little boyfriend thinking I did.

"Hey dude, you want to go play Wii?" Josh interrupted our awkward interaction.

"Hey….yeah. Hi Bella" Sean looked past Josh and to Bella, smiling adorably.

"Hi Sean" Bella smiled back her blush magnifying.

"Just wait a few minutes, everyone will be here soon" Alice crossed her legs in front of her as she smiled. Josh and Sean began to talk about some of their friends from school while the rest of his friends filed in. Matt was the last to arrive and much to Emmett's liking the guys headed to the furnished basement where they would be "sleeping."

Bella let out a disappointed and slightly hurt sigh as the door to the basement stairs shut. I felt bad, I couldn't exactly tell Josh to include Bella in their fun; the guys were after all his friends. "Jerk" she muttered at a level that wouldn't be audible to a human.

As if on cue the door to the basement opened up and Josh stuck his head out the door and looked at Bella. "Are you coming?"

**A/N – Thanks for all the reviews guys, they help keep me writing. Hope you liked it, the next chapter will be in Bella's Pov**


	19. Chapter 19

Bella's Pov

"So what are you too cool to hang out with us now?" Josh nudged me with his elbow in the ribs as we walked downstairs.

"You know it" I flashed a smile, there were times my brother drove me absolutely insane but then there were times like this when he surprised me. "By the way how's your head?" I asked; I hadn't had the chance to apologize yet for giving him a concussion and causing him to get stitches. I didn't mean for him to get hurt but I certainly meant to tackle him.

"It's fine; Dad gave me a pain killer" Josh shrugged his shoulders and walked over to the Lazyboy, his friends were deciding which Wii game to play. Sean leaned over to Matt and whispered something to him, whatever it was made Matt vacate his seat and parked himself in a bean bag chair on the floor.

"Bella?" Sean smiled at me and patted the seat next to him. I'm sure I was blushing as I walked over to him and sat down.

"How are you?" I smiled at him, it had only been a few hours since we saw each other so I'm sure not too much had changed except his clothes.

"Good, how are you?" he turned his body slightly to face me.

"I'm good" His smile grew.

"You look really nice tonight" I felt my cheeks redden as I looked at him. I looked really nice because I had allowed Alice to do my hair. She even put a little bit of makeup on me, nothing over the top of course, my brothers wouldn't allow that.

"Well thank you, it's courtesy of Alice" I laughed. We started chatting about school and various other things. He was starting high school with Josh in the fall which is a bit of an obstacle but I guess we'd discuss that we got there. I wasn't very concerned though; we'd probably be moving at the end of next year. Dad was already trying to pass for thirty-two.

We had been talking for about half an hour before the basement door opened and my mom walked downstairs. "Having fun guys?" She smiled happily. There was an odd chorus of Yupps and Yeahs. "Great, so who all has had dinner?" Everyone raised a hand. "Okay, better question. Who will eat pizza if we order some?" She laughed as everyone raised their hands. "Alright pepperoni, cheese and…" she trailed off for a moment as she looked at Sean. "Black olives and Tomato right?"

"Yes Mam" He grinned at her, impressed that she remember what he likes on his pizza.

"She hates it when you call her that" I whispered to him knowing full well that she could hear me. I tried to suppress my smile when I saw his terrified expression.

"How's your head sweetie?" Mom walked over to Josh and started to inspect the back of his head.

"It's fine Mom" Josh rolled his eyes, it was obvious he didn't want his friends to know what happened.

"Okay okay" She held her hands up as a sign of surrender. "I just worry about you" she leaned down and planted a kiss on his forehead causing the other guys to snicker.

"Thanks Mom" Josh said sarcastically while he shook his head.

"You're welcome honey" she returned his sarcasm and grinned before heading back upstairs.

"Dude what happened to your head?" Logan, one of the Josh's and Sean's friends asked from the floor. Josh rolled his eyes again and pointed to me.

"He stole a cookie from me" I explained with a shrug and a smug smile.

"You let your sister kick your ass?" Matt chuckled loudly.

"Not exactly" Josh grumbled.

"Yeah whatever, you got beat up by a girl. Way to go Bella" Matt grinned at me before returning his attention to the game.

About a half an hour or so passed before Emmett's voice boomed out telling us that the pizza had arrived. The guys raced up the stairs with a loud series of thumps leaving Sean and I alone in the basement. I slowly got up from the couch and started walking over to the stairs, Sean following a moment later. "Bella?" I turned back to face him, there was sweat beading on his brow.

"What's wrong?" I asked quickly, he looked a little sick.

"Nothing" A soft smile formed on his face, "Come here"

"Okay" I shrugged and walked back to him. Much to my surprise he leaned forward and kissed me gently. It was more than the peck we shared last night, it was perfect. I'm not sure how long we stood together like that but I suddenly heard a throat being cleared. Sean looked up, seeing Alice he stepped two feet away from me instantly.

"Aww" she giggled for a minute grinning. "Come get your pizza you two." She followed us upstairs having clearly been given instructions to bring us upstairs. All of Josh's friends were gathered around the kitchen counter pulling apart three large pizzas. I waited at the table and Sean grabbed us each a slice of his black olive and tomato pizza.

"So, who wants Coke?" Rosalie came into the kitchen with Emmett a large grocery bag full of 2 liter soda bottles in each hand.

"Here let me get those for you" Matt moved to Rose's side and tried to get the bags from her. Emmett's eyes narrowed as he glared at him.

"They're pretty heavy" Rosalie warned him but Matt just huffed and rolled his eyes before grabbing one of the bags. Rose shrugged and let go of the bag, Matt's eyes widened as he realized how heavy it was. "Got it?"

"Uh huh" Matt grunted but still managed to get the bag on to the table. After eating we all headed back downstairs and put on a movie. With the lights being off during the movie, Sean had zero qualms about holding my hand. It wasn't until the movie finished that I noticed the lack of interference by any members of my family. Any normal sleepover Emmett would have been downstairs a dozen times by now. I could tell Josh noticed it too, once we flipped the lights back on he looked to the stairs every couple of minutes.

Something wasn't right; my family wouldn't just leave us alone the whole night, and especially not after Alice saw Sean and me kissing. "I'll be right back" I smiled at Sean and let go of his hand.

"Going upstairs?" Josh asked. I nodded. "I'll come with you" he got up as well. I opened the door at the top of the stairs. I could hear Jasper talking but he was talking too lowly for me to make out what he was saying. Josh held his hand up to make sure I stayed quiet. We took a few steps towards the living room where everyone was talking.

"I could speak with Aro, it doesn't have to be this way" Dad was talking about someone I've never heard of.

"Talking doesn't work" It was Alice this time. Josh took another step and the wood under his foot creaked loudly. Everyone stopped talking immediately. Knowing it was too late to pretend we weren't standing there, Josh and I walked into the kitchen.

"What's wrong?" Josh asked looking around at our family. Something was clearly wrong; Dad was holding Mom pretty tightly. Both Emmett and Edward looked furious but everyone else just looked worried.

"Yeah, what's going on?" I didn't think it was possible but everyone looked paler than they normally did.

"Nothing" Mom forced a smile at us.

"Bull" Josh shook his head.

"Is everything alright downstairs?" Mom ignored Josh's outburst.

"It's fine" Josh's confusion was evident on his face. I started to feel relaxed and disinterested in whatever they were talking about. "Jasper, knock it off" Josh scowled. "What's going on?" He demanded this time.

"Don't worry about it sweetheart" Mom's smile was a little more believable this time but not by much.

**A/N – 20 reviews already for last chapter, awesome. Keep it up it really motivates me to write more. **


	20. Chapter 20

Josh's Pov

"That's crap, what's going on?" I shook my head again; they were clearly lying to me and Bella. I didn't know what was going on but everyone looked really upset. Dad had his arm around Mom's waist and seemed to be holding her tightly.

"It's nothing honey" Mom gave me another forced smile.

"Who's Aro then?" Their attempt to brush off whatever was going on wasn't working. I didn't like being lied to; I couldn't understand what on earth would be important enough that they wanted to hide it from us.

"No one" Rosalie answered quickly.

"Right" I took in a deep breath. "Will you knock it off?" I snapped at Jasper, I could tell he was trying to influence my emotions again as I started to feel disinterested in what was clearly a larger issue than was being let on.

"Josh, everything's fine. Why don't you and Bella head back downstairs?" Dad's hold on Mom seemed to let up a little as she spoke up.

"No, what's going on?" I was starting to get really frustrated.

"Now Josh" Mom snapped at me. I was taken aback by her tone, Rosalie was the only one who ever snapped at me and it normally happened when I was being obnoxious or messing with Bella.

"Okay" my voice cracked when I answered, this puberty nonsense was really starting to get old. I looked at Bella for a moment before turning around and heading to the stairs.

"What was that?" She asked me softly, I knew her well enough to know she was just as startled and bothered by what had just happened as I was.

"I don't know" I shrugged my shoulders and sighed. Together we headed back into the basement and sat down. The guys had already decided to throw another movie on, a grin crossed Bella's face as she realized it was Animal House, a favorite of Emmett's that we normally watched with him.

Even with the lights off I could see Sean put his arm around Bella. She rested her head on his shoulder while they watched the movie. I hated the idea of one of best friends dating my sister but compared to how most of my guys behaved around girls, Sean was about as tame as could be. He made me look like a Casanova. Even though I knew they couldn't see me I glared at them for a moment before turning my attention to the movie.

Before I knew it Bella was shaking my awake, "Concussion remember, no sleeping tonight" she harped at me. I looked around, Matt and Logan were both unconscious on the floor in their bean bag chairs, I could tell Matt had fallen asleep first as "loser" was scrawled across his forehead in permanent marker. I made the mistake of falling asleep first at Logan's house earlier this year, I'm pretty sure no one in my family believed me when I tried to explain away the faded graffiti on my forehead as the word "dock".

I looked at the clock on the wall surprised to find that it was already four in the morning. I yawned as I got up from the couch and stretched, "Come on, I'm going to go put on some PJ's and you need to get to bed."

"Go change, I think I'm going crash down here tonight" Bella smiled in Sean's direction. I gave an exaggerated laugh. Like that was ever going to happen. Bella shrugged and smiled at me, "Fine, figured I'd give it a try." I waited for her to get up from the couch before I started walking to the stairs.

Halfway up the stairs I was overcome by a sneeze, or like Bella and Emmett liked to call it, my face exploding. Bella was blessed by having soft subtle sneezes; I, on the other hand, had to pray nothing was in front of me because I normally slammed my head off of it.

"Crap" I sighed as I realized my nose was bleeding due to the combination of my allergies, the insanely high pollen count and the force of my sneeze.

"Again? Really?" Bella turned to me as I brought my hand to my nose trying to stop the blood from running down my face.

"It's nothing" I reached for the door knob at the top of the stairs but was beat to it by Alice on the other side with a handful of tissues. "Thanks" I gave her a soft appreciative smile.

"You're welcome" she flashed me a quick smile. "I'd ask ya how the movie went but you only lasted like what ten minutes into it?" She grinned as she led us up to our rooms. "Oh and you need to make sure Logan gets that off his forehead, his mom isn't going to let him over here anymore if you don't."

"He fell asleep first, it's the rules Alice" I explained. Both she and Bella began to laugh.

"Actually that honor would befall to you; you're just lucky Bella felt bad for cracking your head open and wouldn't let anyone vandalize your face."

"You're welcome" Bella grinned at me.

****

"So are you going to tell us what was going on yesterday or not?" I asked as Mom set a plate of pasta in front of me. Everyone had gone home about half an hour ago so I figured they might actually tell us what happened.

She chewed on her bottom lip for a moment and gave an audible sigh. I watched as she pulled out the chair across from me and Bella and then sat down, "You guys remember us telling you about the Volturi right?"

I nodded, "The royal whatevers, the ones with the rules?"

"Yes"

"Okay? So what hap…" I stopped myself as I realized what had happened. The main rule was to keep the secret, which meant humans weren't supposed to know about vampires. I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat. I'm pretty sure we weren't supposed to be living with them either. "They're coming here?" I watched as Mom nodded. "When?"

"About an hour and a half" Alice answered for her as she entered the kitchen with the rest of my family.

"What's going to happen?" I looked to Alice.

"I'm not quite sure, it changes pretty frequently." Alice looked pretty frustrated, which was common when she was "blind."

"It's going to be fine" Mom reached across the table and squeezed my hand gently.

"Edward?" Bella's voice quivered as she looked at him.

"Nothing is going to happen to you Bella" He gave her a reassuring smile. At Jasper's suggestion, after lunch and the brief run down on who would coming today, Bella and I both took showers and changed into some new clothes that Alice had gotten us. Apparently our scents were less powerful when we were clean.

"They're here!" Alice called out as she came into the living room, Jasper following at her heels. Having been told to stay on the couch, Bella reached over and took my hand. Hers was cool and clammy, her nerves being very visible. I listened as the doors to two cars opened and closed. I watched the door in anticipation.

"Ow" I groaned as Bella jumped about six inches and clamped down on my hand like a vice as the door bell rang. A muffled snort escaped Emmett's lips and Rosalie smacked him.

"Enough" Dad said softly to the two of them before opening the door. "Aro" he gave a cordial smile as he greeted the black haired man with milky red eyes, behind him stood over half a dozen other men.

"Carlisle, old friend" I watched as they embraced quickly.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" I couldn't understand the charade, the Volturi knew about Alice and her ability.

"The rules are there for everyone Carlisle" he responded regretfully.

"I had hoped that given our history we would be able to discuss things" Dad looked back at Bella and me for a brief moment. Aro nodded and everyone moved out of the doorway so our "guests" could enter. The large men filed in one by one, in the middle of their group stood a girl, Jane. She looked to be my age, maybe a little younger. I'm not a big fan of short hair on a girl but besides that she was pretty beautiful.

"So this must be Joshua and Isabella" Aro looked at us. "Still very young I see"

"Josh, Bella, come on over here, please" Dad waved his hand. Bella and I got up from the couch and walked over slowly, Bella's grasp on my hand only got tighter.

"May I?" Aro extended his hand out as if he wanted a handshake. I glanced over at Dad who gave a quick nod. I took in a deep breath and started to raise my hand but Bella wouldn't let go of it. Being strangely sympathetic to my predicament Aro reached and touched my shoulder. For being royalty this guy was kind of weird with all of his touching. "Well, I understand why you brought them home in the first place, very sad" Aro's attention shifted to Rosalie.

I found my focus wandering back to Jane who was now at Aro's side, she looked at Bella with a clear disgust but when she looked at me her eyes darkened. I was unable to look away from her, lost in the angelic features of her face. I took in a deep breath, feeling another sneeze building.

"Oh my god" Alice choked out as the sneeze finally let rip. I heard Edward's distinct growl as I covered my face trying to contain the sneeze.

"Jane, no!" I heard Aro shout. As I opened my eyes I briefly saw Jane's perfect face and pitch black eyes.

**A/N – Hey guys, hope you liked it. Sorry for the delay but as you know the site has been down. Please review, the more reviews the sooner I'll update. **


	21. Chapter 21

Jasper's Pov

I was amazed by how quickly things had gone from simply palatably tense to absolute mayhem. Just seconds ago Josh sneezed; to our family his allergy induced nosebleeds were common especially during this time of the year. I could faintly smell the blood but it did nothing for me. Jane on the other hand lost complete control. Edward let out a fierce growl. I was soon flooded by emotions, Edward's rage, Alice's panic and everyone else's fear and concern.

"Jane, no!" Aro shouted shocked by his young guard's behavior. I was positive that when he had arrived that the visit would be disastrous but when he used his gift to take in Josh's memories I could feel his confusion and distaste shift into something resembling pity. The fact that he had mentioned understand why Rosalie brought him and Bella into our family led me to believe he had seen that day in his memories. I hoped he could see that our secret was not in jeopardy because of Josh and Bella. I wanted him to understand that they were our family.

I thought for just a brief moment that things may not end as terribly as I originally expected but Jane changed that in less than a second. She lunged forward and grabbed Josh; he barely even saw her coming. Bella gave a terrified shriek as things quickly escalated.

Emmett growled loudly as he pounced on the guard member nearest to him who was moving towards Jane, I could tell the guard member was surprised by Jane's sudden loss of control but distrusted us enough to protect her from us.

Everyone was shocked by Jane's complete and utter loss of control. She was a prized member of the Volturi's guard, a guard that was only functional because of the control it had during heightened situations. She barely lasted two minutes around Josh. I couldn't believe how quickly her instincts over powered her, she was behaving the like a newborn.

I struggled maintaining my focus as I watched Jane take a hold of Josh by his shoulders, Alice, feeling immense guilt over not seeing this earlier, lunged forward trying to stop the deranged little girl but other guard member stepped in. A feral growl erupted from my chest as I stepped in to protect my wife. A flurry of black cloaks converged as the remainder of the guard became involved.

The living room was too small of a space for the number of vampires that it contained. The glass coffee table shattered under Emmett's weight as he wrestled with an equally enormous guard. My attention was pulled away as something else shattered. "No! Josh!" Everyone's head jerked up at inhuman speed as Esme's distressed shouts filled the room.

"Jane, stop! Control yourself!" Aro's voice was sharp as he shouted. As soon as I realized what it was that had shattered the window I was rocked by the feeling of worry that emanated from the members of my family.

"Bella get down" Edward was a frightening combination of panicked and furious. Not all of the struggling had stopped; Edward was attempting to hold down a slightly smaller guard member. I could tell based on the nature of the struggle neither wanted to destroy the other but the guard member pushed Edward away, sending him into the couch where Bella was. The couch broke under the force of his body and sent Bella flying. "No" his growl was cut short as I heard Bella yelp. Her head cracked off of the wall as she slid on the polished wood floors into it. It felt like my stomach had flipped as I smelled both of my siblings blood, Bella seemed to be alright but the smell of Josh's was stronger than it had been when his nose bleed had just started.

"Demetri, Felix, stop her!" Aro shouted again. The guard member who had been struggling with Emmett stood upright and Emmett followed giving an enraged growl. I felt anger and devastating concern for Josh that years ago would have been surprising. Carlisle and Esme raced outside as did who I assumed to be Felix and Demetri.

"No…no…no" I looked quickly at my wife as her fear rolled off of her like a thick fog. Her beautiful eyes were a dark amber color and she looked like she would cry if she could. I knew of Jane's abilities and along with her bloodlust she would be difficult for just the two guards to restrain. I couldn't allow her to kill him; I don't think our family would survive it. I moved as fast my legs would carry me towards Josh.

"Get her out of here" Aro ordered to the rest of his loyal cloaked guard. With a disciplined force the half dozen vampires took a hold of the young vampire. There was blood on the grass at my feet as me and the rest of my family gathered around Josh, expecting things to be much worse I was relieved to see him in a conscious state.

"Baby?" Esme dropped to her knees behind Josh's head. His face was contorted in one of pain. I looked over his body inventorying his wounds. He was breathing heavily, I could tell his arm was broken and there were cuts and gashes from the window he was thrown through. She tenderly touched his cheeks as a frightened sob escaped her tightly pursed lips. She was trying so hard not to let her true fears for him show but her emotions were starting to get the best of her. Knowing both Edward and Carlisle had much more of an extensive medical background, I decided that I would do what I could to make the situation better. Esme shot me a brief appreciative half smile as I went out waves of calm.

"Wow, what a bitch" I felt a smile playing at my lips as Josh took in a deep pained breath. His fear dissolved as Esme cradled his head in her lap. He relaxed against her cold touch.

"Shh" a slightly relieved smile played on her lips. Carlisle kneeled at Josh's side, getting a closer look at his wounds.

"Bella, sit still" I listened to Edward as he talked to Bella from the living room.

"Edward I'm fine!" she snapped back, I could feel her annoyance from here. "Is Josh okay?" I turned towards the house and watched as Bella tried to get up but Edward stood in front of her.

"I'm good!" Josh called out, grimacing and immediately regretting raising his voice.

"Shh" Esme cooed gently.

"Emmett, can you get my back from my office?" Carlisle looked up at Emmett who nodded and took off with top speed and returned a few seconds later with the medical bag. He removed a small bottle; based on its smell I could tell it was morphine. He prepared a small shot and injected it into Josh's arm.

Tension filled the yard once more as Aro floated out of the woods surrounding the house. With Emmett's mind being clearly in the same place as mine, we moved in front of Josh. Emmett crouched down defensively. "No…it's fine" I felt my wife's hands around my waist. I could feel her confidence and I sent it back out in waves to those around me.

**A/N - Hey guys, the updates are going to be slowing down for a few weeks, I broke my index finger in two places during a soccer game and my typing has been suffering. Keep up the reviews, it really keeps me motivated. **


	22. Chapter 22

Edward's Pov

I knew that if it were possible my dead heart would be pounding in my chest. I meticulously examined the small cut on the back of Bella's head, it was my fault that she was injured, it wouldn't have happened if hadn't landed on the couch. My mind was reeling; both Josh and Bella were in very real danger because they were part of our family.

"Bella, sit still" I pled with her as she tried to see what was going on outside. It sounded like things had calmed down considerably.

"Edward I'm fine!" she half growled at me, all of the time they'd spent around vampires clearly had an effect. The tears welling in her eyes broke my heart. I hated not being able to read her thoughts; I couldn't tell whether or not she was crying because she was hurt or just scared.

"Is Josh okay?" She answered my question for me in a softer tone as she tried to get up from the couch to get a look at her brother. I moved in front of her and gently pushed her back down; I couldn't let her go outside, not with her head bleeding and the better half of a dozen non-"vegetarian" vampires around.

"I'm good!" Josh called out. _Oh! Ow! Bad idea. Bad idea._ He groaned both internally and externally as his outburst caused him a great deal of pain. Bella calmed down instantly with his response.

"Shh" _This shouldn't have happened; we should have been better prepared_. Esme's thoughts were laced with guilt as she gently forced Josh back down. I understood her guilt but I also knew there was nothing we really could have done. Last night when Alice had her vision, we knew that hiding Josh and Bella was out of the question. We would be forced to accept the decision that was made.

Aro's thoughts before Jane's meltdown left me optimistic though. I knew that he thought Josh and Bella were too young to become vampires, initially I had been convinced that he would order their deaths but when he touched Josh his thoughts softened. He had seen through Josh's memories that our secret was not in jeopardy because of the twins.

"Emmett, can you get my bag from my office?" Carlisle was able to put up a confident front even though I knew how startled he really was; he took in a deep breath and looked Josh over again, taking careful note of his slightly deformed wrist. _He's in too much discomfort for it to just be his wrist. _

Emmett took off at top speed but slid to an immediate stop in front of Bella on the couch. _Is she okay? _He asked me silently and I gave him a quick nod. He leaned down and planted a kiss on the top of her head, coaxing out a soft smile from her before taking off in what I'm sure appeared to be a blur. He returned a few seconds later with Carlisle's medical bag.

Carlisle retrieved a vial of morphine and effortlessly drew out a small dose; he knew just as well as any of us did that Josh couldn't handle his pain killers well. _Oh yupp, there ya go, not even a warning. _Josh complained to himself as Carlisle injected the morphine into his arm. _Oh nevermind, that's nice. It's like you can taste it's goodness. _ I watched a lazy smile cross Josh's face.

_No, no more. _Esme's alarmed thoughts caught my attention, I moved closer towards the broken window to get a look at what she was seeing. Tension filled the yard once more as Aro floated out of the woods surrounding the house. A low grumble rolled out of my chest as I leapt through window while Jasper and Emmett crouched defensively in front of Adam. I knew fighting the Volturi was pretty much suicide but nothing else was going to happen to Bella and Josh and I was going to make sure of it.

Alice flittered to Jasper's side as she had a vision of Josh and Bella walking down the hallway, Josh playfully kicked Bella's foot as they walked. She stumbled and he quickly grabbed her elbow to stop her from tripping. "Bastard!" Bella managed to shout at him while keeping her voice at a whisper and playfully punched his shoulder nearly dropping her books in the process. Even with their bickering both were grinning.

I could tell by her vision that things were going to be alright, for a while at least. The twins looked to be about sixteen but I couldn't be sure, Alice's visions unfortunately didn't come time-stamped. Alice had certainly been right about the massive growth spurt as Josh looked like he was about six foot two and he almost resembled Emmett except maybe a little older because of his sideburns. Where ever we lived during this future Josh had managed to get a tan and even his hair seemed lighter than it normally did.

Bella while not nearly as tall had grown up just as much as her brother. She looked beautiful, breathtakingly beautiful. I knew her wardrobe was heavily influenced by Alice, no doubt, as she was in a skirt and flats. I knew Bella well enough to know she would much rather be in jeans and a t shirt. Seeing Bella in the future that Alice had seen put me at ease, I knew she would be with us for at least a couple more years. I wanted Bella to be with me always but knowing there were a few more years was fine for me right now.

_I could kill him…No I can't kill Aro. _Emmett narrowed his eyes as he looked at Aro.

"No…it's fine" Alice wrapped her arms around Jasper's waist; I soon felt the waves of confidence he was sending to all of us. _Edward, take Bella upstairs just in case please. _Alice spoke to me silently, another low growl rumbled from chest as I let her know I was not walking away until this was over.

"I apologize for my guard's behavior; I hope you know this was not my intentions." I was shocked at Aro's apology. _La Tua Cantante, I've read of it but never experienced it in person before. _Josh is her singer; I should have realized this before now. Josh's blood had caused her to lose complete control of herself. "I know that we usually are unmovable on violations of the rules" he paused for a moment, "but I do not think that the integrity of the secret is in danger at this moment because of the additions to your family at this moment. Due to the perilous nature of keeping humans in your home, we will be monitoring you and we will be visiting in" he paused again;_ they're thirteen now, so four or five years until they're done with their primary education _"five years."

_Oh thank god. _Rosalie sighed softly and looked back at Bella then Josh.

"I assume that is a suitable solution?" Aro's eyes darkened. _I cannot afford to stay much longer…cannot kill Carlisle's boy. _I knew the almost tropical smell of Josh's blood was getting to be too much for him.

"Yes!" Esme looked embarrassed and apologetic for outburst, "yes, that's fine" _Please just leave. _She wanted this to be over.

"I will be in contact before I return, not that you'll need it" he looked at Alice for a moment, I knew how much he wanted her to join his guard, he wanted both of us.

"Thank you" Carlisle said softly. I hated that he needed to thank the man who at one time saw no problem with killing Josh and Bella. Carlisle looked at him for a brief moment, I knew Carlisle would have made an effort to shake his hand or say a good bye but Josh's blood was all over his hands. The two old friends shared a glance and Aro left just as quickly as he arrived. In just as little time as he took in shaking our world upside down he was gone.

**A/N – Hey guys sorry it's been so long. With the fractures in my finger this story was neglected and I was suffering some writers block. Please keep reviewing it, it keeps me motivated. **


	23. Chapter 23

Rosalie's Pov

"Rose, you're supposed to use your turn signals." I shot Josh a quick look as he complained about my driving. Alice had warned me that he would be "snarky" but this was pushing on simply being a pain in the ass. I visualized myself giving him a quick slap on the back of his head but felt bad instantly. On top of his broken arm he had two broken ribs but still wanted to go to school today. He had gotten through two classes before going to the nurse; she ended up telling him that he couldn't have one of his pain killers without going home for the day. He of course decided to "tough it out" but only lasted until right before lunchtime.

"He's just hungry, here stop whining" Bella dug into her backpack and pulled out an apple and tossed it into his lap from her spot in the back seat. Normally we wouldn't have considered letting Bella skip her afternoon classes but it was the last week of school and she had already finished her exams, we figured she wouldn't be missing much.

"Stop whining" Josh made a face as he mocked Bella. I couldn't help but laugh as she reached across the seat to smack him.

"What was that?" She glared at him as he leaned forward to escape the possibility of a second slap.

"Thanks" he grumbled.

"Thought so" Bella smirked and leaned back into her seat. Josh leaned back in his seat again and muttered "psycho" low enough that only I could hear it. He then proceeded to examine the apple; ever since Emmett had snuck a wax apple into the fruit bowl he was incredibly careful when biting into any fruit. A soft smile curled on his lips making it pretty clear that his pain killer had finally kicked in.

"Slow down, you're going to get a ticket" I rolled my eyes as Josh took a bite of his apple and grinned at me, his bad mood had already faded.

"I don't get tickets" I reminded him pointedly.

"He's right you know, not everyone in this car is immortal; maybe you should at least keep it to only twenty over." My thoughts on my retort were interrupted as my cell phone began to ring from my purse at Josh's feet. I could tell based on the ring tone that it was Alice. I held my hand out for the phone but Josh decided to answer it himself.

"Tell her to slow down, she's going to get a ticket" I heard my sister's voice as Josh started to laugh. Alice, Jasper and I had decided to take a half day off from school when she had seen Bella and Josh coming home for the day. I almost felt bad; Emmett and Edward had exams of some sort and were stuck in classes all afternoon.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me" I gently pushed down the brake pedal and scanned my surroundings quickly trying to see if there was in fact a cop somewhere close by, I wasn't one to bet against Alice.

"Told ya" Alice chimed in again as I spotted the front bumper of the cruiser.

"Aw Alice she'll never learn if you keep warning her" Josh turned around in his chair and handed the phone to Bella. "Here you talk to her" I heard Alice scoff as he took another bite out of his apple and reached over to turn the radio on. Thankfully the ride back home wasn't much longer; as soon as I put the car in park they unbuckled their seatbelts and climbed out.

"Bella did you get to get your things from the art room?" I asked, last night she had mentioned that they could get their projects from the school year. Both of them had art as a required course, for Josh it was torture but it was one of Bella's favorite classes.

"Sure did" Bella patted her backpack and smiled.

"How about you?" I looked to Josh narrowed his eyes briefly.

"I tossed them." He explained with a simple shrug of his shoulders.

"You didn't" I knew Josh hated his art classes but I was shocked to think he would just throw all of his artwork out. Esme was going to be really disappointed.

"I did, at least I think I did" he looked slightly unsure but then gave me a swift nod.

"Not all of them." Bella patted her bag again and smirked at Josh.

"You got the soap dish" Josh pointed his finger accusingly and Bella nodded. I couldn't tell quite what he was feeling, at first he had looked angry but now he was almost pouting.

"Oh don't give me that look, Alice told me that you would hurt Mom's feelings if you threw them all out so I saved one." There were times it was like they were able to read each other's minds, not like Edwards gift of course but their connection as twins was undeniable. "Oh lighten up, it's not that bad. It could be somewhat trendy even, very surreal" She offered as his pout grew.

"What would hurt my feelings?" Bella blushed instantly as Esme opened the door and smiled at them.

"Nothing" Josh said quickly and put on his best smile, dimples and all.

"Nothing huh?" Esme raised an eyebrow as she looked Josh over. "The nurse did give you a Percocet before you left then?" She chuckled and kissed his forehead before turning and leading him inside.

"Bitch almost didn't let me have one, I practically had to beg." Bella giggled.

"Language" Esme chided but not before giving a very soft laugh. Having been told when we would be back she had sandwiches waiting for them.

Alice and Jasper joined us at the table while we had our pseudo family meal. Bella spent most of the time it took them to eat showing us her art projects from throughout the year. I knew I had an obvious bias but she was very talented, I found my thoughts wandering as I pictured her attending some trendy art school.

"Mom has Andrea called?" Josh's voice brought me out of my daydreams. He had apparently gone a full three days without talking to her. I didn't really understand what he saw in her but it was actually kind of sweet seeing him worry the way he was.

"So honey she hasn't" Esme frowned softly, her forehead creasing slightly.

"She wasn't at school today or yesterday either apparently."

"I told you she had a cold Josh" Alice reminded him.

"Are you sure that's all? I mean, she would have called right?" It was strange seeing Josh so concerned over this girl, just a few years ago he was getting in trouble for telling girls that they were gross. I'm not quite sure what it was but it felt like Josh was growing up too quickly, something made me feel that Bella was going to be with us for a long time, I didn't have that feeling with Josh. He would eventually not need us in his life. I frowned at the thought, he was already as tall as Esme and before we knew it he was going to be shaving soon.

"She's sick, her mother is keeping her in bed and she didn't call because of how much her throat hurts." Alice explained.

"When was the last time you checked?" Josh had grown to fully understand Alice's visions and how truly subjective they were. Alice rolled her eyes, a little annoyed with his questions but took a look into the future again.

"What did you see?" Jasper asked before Josh had the chance, instead of having an answer Alice simply erupted into a fit of laughter. Jasper was smiling clearly feeling whatever Alice was.

"What's wrong?" Josh looked confused, not understanding what could be so funny.

"I shouldn't laugh…it's just" Alice was still giggling "Andrea has Mono" a strange look washed over Josh's face as he looked at our sister.

"Me too then?" Josh asked apprehensively.

"Bella and Sean too" Alice replied quickly seemed to regret it immediately. I couldn't help but laugh; unfortunately Alice and I were the only ones who found this funny. I knew Emmett would be disappointed he missed it.

"You gave me Mono?!?" Bella shrieked at Josh while her face turned as red as I've ever seen it.

Josh shrugged lazily the combination of lunch and the prescription narcotics he didn't have much fight left, "Sorry"

"Wait a minute, Josh pretty much drinks out of every glass that you do" Jasper narrowed his eyes at Bella from across the table.

"True" Josh nodded and laughed to himself for a moment.

"How did Sean get it then?"

**A/N – Hey guys, I'm so sorry. Spring break and midterms are really a devastating one-two punch. **

**Please keep reviewing it motivates me to write more. **


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N – Hey guys I know I have been a terrible author, along with rewriting this chapter half a dozen times, my life became much more involved recently. Along with a few projects I've been working 25-30 hours a week when I used to cap off at 15. Well now my major projects are done, my work hours don't consume all of my "free time" **

**Any way I will be updating much more frequently, I already have 5 hours blocked off for writing tomorrow. Well please review they really do help me out and keep me motivated. **

Emmett's Pov

I tried to contain a low growl as I leaned against Edward's Volvo; it was bad enough that we had to spend the afternoon in school when everyone else was home but he was late too. "What on earth could you be in such a hurry about?" I looked up again as I heard my brother's voice, he was trying to politely slip past a group of cheerleaders in front of him. What could I be in a hurry about? Since when did I need a reason to be in a hurry?

"Worried we'll get stuck behind a happy meal again?" I grinned as Edward made reference to my little nickname for the hideous yellow school busses that too frequently obstructed our way home. The busses were only part of the reason I wanted to get home quickly. Rose had sent me a text message a little after lunch time telling me I would have enjoyed whatever was happening at home. I figured it had something to do with Josh being on his pain killers which always provided a great deal of entertainment. "He'll still be good and stoned when we get there" Edward spoke up again as he finally reached the car.

With some aggressive driving on Edward's part we were able to get onto the highway before any of the school busses and managed to get home in just over 10 minutes. Normally I would have been alarmed seeing Carlisle's car in the garage so early but after the weekend's events he wanted to be home with Josh and Bella as much as possible. I knew exactly how he felt too; they seemed much more mortal on Sunday than they did on Saturday. I had never been frozen with fear until I watched Aro's sadistic guard Jane lunge at Josh, she could have ended him right there and we wouldn't have been able to do a thing about it.

"What is with all of the doom and gloom?" Edward raised an eyebrow as he watched me climb out of the car. I shot him a quick glare, it was already bad enough feeling somewhat vulnerable about my siblings but having him listen to it and comment on it was pushing it. "Alright, sorry" Edward apologized as he followed me upstairs into the house.

"You know none of this would have happened if you weren't so easy" Bella sounded pissed, her voice had already risen more than half an octave. I decided to stay quiet, something must have happened, I normally understood whatever trivial thing Josh and Bella were fighting about but this didn't make any sense.

"Easy" Josh repeated before giving a very lazy laugh. I opened the door as I reached the top of the stairs. All of my siblings were piled into the living room; Bella and my Rose were at opposite ends of the couch and Josh was sprawled across them covered in a thick down comforter.

"That isn't funny Joshua" I heard Esme's voice from the kitchen, cooking some form of snack for our living, breathing garbage disposal. Speaking of eating machine, she used his full name, something must really be up.

"Easy like Sunday morning" Rosalie started to laugh as Josh belted out a terrible attempt at a cover up. It was easy to get used to hearing people sing and even talk in perfect pitch in a house full of vampires and even after ten years Josh's caterwauling it still caught me off guard.

"It's like someone's torturing barn cats" Edward added on to my noiseless tirade.

"Oh hey Em-dog" Josh lifted his head.

"Em-dog?" Rose took the question right out of my mouth.

"Just trying it out, Em is just so boring"

"And?"

"Ehh" He contorted his face, good, Em-dog is not a nickname I want to stick. I raised my hands as I questioned his awkward position on the couch. "Head pillow, foot pillow. Foot pillow is more comfortable but head pillow isn't pissed off, self preservation trumps contentment once again."

"Why is foot pillow pissed off?" Bella scoffed as Edward used what I'm sure she considered to be an offensive pseudonym. He must have heard the answer in someone's mind because he tensed before anyone could open their mouth.

"Are you feeling alright?" He swallowed a nonexistent lump in his throat and turned to look at Bella, his voice wasn't necessarily harsh but it was obvious that something had upset him. Why wouldn't Bella be feeling well? It was Josh after all who was injured, Bella should be fine. Wasn't she fine?

"Whoa, Emmett, relax" My breathing returned to a more moderate level as Jasper sent waves of calm to me from his spot with Alice on the loveseat. Whatever was happening seemed to be tickling both Alice and Rosalie as both had smiles playing at their perfect pale faces.

"Edward, I'm fine" That's all Edward needed to hear. "We aren't even really sick yet…" Bella trailed off as he gave a quick nod and walked at a fast human pace out of the living room and into the kitchen. I could hear Esme quietly ask him if everything was alright but instead of a response all I could hear was the back door open and close.

"He's going to kill him" Josh let out a hearty laugh and instantly regretted it.

"Kill who?" Bella jumped as I accidently raised my voice.

"Sean, she gave him Mono" Mono? The kissing disease? I felt a low growl building in my chest again as I realized what this meant. That little punk kissed Bella, my Bella. I was going to kill him.

"Only because you gave it to me" Bella slapped her hand down on Josh's leg.

"This isn't about my promiscuity Bella, it's about yours" Josh gave her a smug smile only to have it slapped away seconds later.

"Alice he isn't actually going to kill him is he?" Bella looked back to Alice, concern apparent in her brown eyes. Edward's response to this caught her and everyone else off guard.

"No, he's just hunting, he needs to clear his head" I wasn't completely satisfied with Alice's cryptic response. Edward wasn't the one Sean needed to worry about.

"He kissed her?" I asked Jasper softly and he responded with a quick nod. "I'm gonna kill him, you want to come?"

"Absolutely not Emmett!" Esme appeared behind the couch in seconds her eyes boring through me with an intensity that rivaled my babes.

"I'm not going to actually kill him, just put the fear of God in him" I raised my hands defensively.

"Sweet I'm coming" Josh hopped to his feet in a matter of seconds. The comforter that once covered him fell to the floor revealing Josh in his CUSE Soccer shirt and bright red boxers, the word NAUGHTY stamped across the butt in white letters.

"You took your sweat pants off?!? What is wrong with you?" Bella shrieked as everyone else, with the exception of Esme, laughed upon seeing his outrageous and risqué underwear.

"It was hot under the blanket" Josh raised an eyebrow, managing to look at Bella like she had just asked what color the sky was.

**A/N – Review/Review/Review - If there are a lot of reviews and my plans don't change I think I can write and post the next chapter tomorrow night. (4/21)**


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